The bizarre case of the Canadian multinational, the Irish semi-state seaweed company and the 10-year confidentiality agreement

Galway seaweed company Arramara Teo was transferred out of state ownership to Canadian company Acadian Seaplants in 2014.

Concerns were expressed at the time that the amount paid by Acadian and the full terms and conditions were the subject of a 10-year confidentiality clause.

Enterprise Ireland had also expressed concern about the sale in a letter to the then Gaeltacht junior minister Dinny McGinley in July 2013.

Now, with the 10-year period up, Údarás na Gaeltachta says it cannot publish any details of the sale contract.

The Canadian owners are separately stating that the confidentiality agreement was indefinite, and was never limited to 10 years.

Údarás na Gaeltachta told the Sunday Independent: “The Information Commissioner has made a decision regarding this matter and determined that it involves sensitive commercial information.

“As a clear decision has been made on this matter by the Information Commissioner, no one will be available to speak on behalf of the Údarás regarding this subject.”

Fianna Fáil deputy Mr Ó Cuív said this was “unsatisfactory”, and he had submitted a number of questions to the Dáil to try to find out more.

“If Údarás na Gaeltachta gave the company away on the basis it believed it was not profitable, I’ve no problem with that, but I think we are entitled to know the details when public money is involved,” he said.

“I would like to see the full terms and conditions — including guarantees that the Canadian owner would stay and not close the place up when it is providing employment in coastal Gaeltacht areas.”

Arramara Teoranta, founded in 1947 after seaweed was identified as a source of alginates for pharmaceutical use, was sold to Acadian Seaplants Ltd for an undisclosed sum in a deal completed in early May 2014.

Several politicians, traditional harvesters and a former Arramara chief executive were critical of the deal, which was completed at a time when the company was making a profit and when seaweed was identified as a major global growth industry.

Arramara employs 24 people and contributes at least €4m a year directly to the local economy

Minutes, in Irish, of an Údarás na Gaeltachta board meeting in March 2014 obtained by the Irish news website tuairisc.ie state that there was “a confidentiality clause in the agreement which lasted for the duration of the agreement, up to 10 years”.

Unusually, board members were asked at the time to return documents relating to the Arramara sale to the executive before the end of the meeting.

Nuacht TG4 sought a copy of the sale contract earlier this year, and appealed to the Information Commissioner after Údarás na Gaeltachta refused its request.

In his ruling, the Information Commissioner investigator said that while he had “strong concerns about the app­ropriateness of FoI [Freedom of Information-compliant] bodies entering into broad confidentiality agreements such as the one at issue”, he had to affirm the Údarás decision.

The commissioner stated he had contacted Acadian Seaplants, which said: “If such a disclosure were to take place, it would have no choice but to take steps to preserve its rights against Údarás na Gaeltachta for breach of the agreement.”

​Arramara Teo Europe director for Strategic Affairs Jim Keogh told this newspaper that Acadian Seaplants has “not threatened Údarás na Gaeltachta with legal action” if it breached the agreement.

Mr Keogh, who previously worked for Údarás na Gaeltachta, also said he believed the confidentiality agreement was indefinite and never limited to 10 years.

He said he had no comment on Mr Ó Cuív’s concerns, and said he personally never had any role in minutes of Údarás board meetings.

Mr Keogh said Arramara employs 24 people and contributes at least €4m a year directly to the local economy through payroll, the purchase and haulage of seaweed and procurement of other services.

In 2013, Údarás na Gaeltachta app­roved a capital investment grant paid over a five-year period to Arramara Teo before it sold the company.