Classic Mineral Water: Contaminated supply threatens jobs

A water bottling company in County Armagh has gone into administration due to a contamination in its water supply, threatening dozens of jobs.

Classic Mineral Water (CMW) issued a statement to employees on Tuesday confirming that financial losses had "forced directors to enter an insolvency administration process".

The company distributes bottled water from its headquarters in Lurgan to a number of retailers including Tesco, Aldi and Lidl.

In August, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland recalled various Comeragh still and sparking water products in the Republic of Ireland after CMW discovered the contamination as part of "continuous testing".

The company sources its water from four borewells on its site which it says delivers over 100,000 litres of water every hour.

In the statement, which has been seen by the BBC, the company blames the contamination on "third-party sources".

BBC News NI has asked the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for comment.

CMW said on 8 August it had "stopped production immediately to undertake a borewell cleaning programme" to attempt to resolve the issue.

Chief Executive Liam Duffy said he does not believe it will impact customers because they "stopped production in time".

BBC News NI understands about 60 jobs are under threat in Lurgan, with dozens of others indirectly affected at companies contracted by CMW.

Its most recent accounts show 81 employees.

It is understood that staff members have not been given any clarity over their future, or whether they are to return to work.

Classic Mineral Water was founded in 1948 and describes itself as Ireland's oldest water bottling company.

In July, the owner and chief executive of the company, Liam Duffy, told the BBC he had overseen £10m of investment in new buildings and production equipment in the last four years.

He said this had allowed the business to increase its production range.

Last year, it lauded that a £3.4m investment allowed it to hire 16 new staff at its base in Lurgan.

Mr Duffy declined to comment further on the closure or the contamination.