Liquidator wins €2.824m pension claim for Protim workers

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The liquidator of Protim Abrasives Ltd won a Workplace Relations Commission decision requiring the State to pay €2.824 million into the company’s defined benefit pension scheme. The decision was reported on 23 January 2025.

Protim, a chemical company specialising in wood treatment products, entered liquidation in November 2009 with unpaid pension contributions. The adjudicating officer accepted that a one-off capital sum could count as a relevant contribution and calculated liability by reducing an original €3.7 million sum by the dividend from stock sales and collected debts.

The State had argued that its liability was limited to the lesser of qualifying unpaid contributions for the 12 months before insolvency or an actuarially certified amount. The report records the WRC outcome at €2.824 million.