The resignation of Andrew Street from the position of Chief Executive at Superquinn, has highlighted the plight of small business suppliers owed money by the Irish retail giant. Suppliers to the chain are facing unpaid debts of up to €25m, out of an estimated €51m due to unsecured creditors
In the e-mail Mr. Street said that 
“This particular process has been selected by the banks in order that they can secure the maximum amount of the sale proceeds for themselves.
“This is being done at considerable cost to our suppliers. The board of Superquinn has made it clear consistently to the banks that they do not support this approach.”
“Over the last few days it has been distressing to see queues of suppliers in our reception waiting for to see if they will be paid and in many cases, being turned away empty handed by the receiver,”
“I had hoped to steer the company out of its difficulties and into calmer waters and although we have made considerable progress together over the last few months, I will now not be able to complete this task.”
Many of the suppliers affected by the administration of company have been long term suppliers to the shopping chain.
He said that the banks should have the “good grace and sense” to use a small portion of the substantial proceeds of the sale that they will receive to pay suppliers in full, but they have refused to do this.
This happened on the same day as the Small Firms Association met 
with the receivers KPMG, to see about finding a resolution to the problem.
However Patricia Callan, Director of the SFA, said: “We have been inundated with calls from small food and drink suppliers throughout the country, who are concerned for their future business viability, and the jobs of the staff they employ, as a result of the appointment of receivers to Superquinn. The fact that the Receivership, the proposed sale to Musgrave, and letters to Suppliers stating that the receivers ‘have no authority to agree or pay any debts due to suppliers which arose prior to our appointment’ have all taken place in 24 hours, demonstrate that this was a well planned process to write off debt, and thus devastate the small business food and drink sector.”
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