Home Office issues apology to NI construction firm over ‘erroneous and false' allegation about illegal workers

Belfast Telegraph

22-05-2025

It relates to a press release issued by the Home Office last year stating that FP McCann had been fined up to £225,000 for illegally employing five contractors at a mill in north Wales.
The case stemmed from an immigration raid on the mill on March 19 last year that saw 13 workers arrested.
The Home Office said at the time that south Derry-based concrete firm FP McCann was one of two companies that had been fined in connection with the raid. It subsequently clarified that the two firms had been referred for civil penalty notices.
In April of last year, it emerged that FP McCann had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the case and had been issued with a 'no-action notice'.
FP McCann threatened to take a libel claim against the Home Office over the original press release.
At the time, a spokesperson for the firm said its lawyers had worked with the Home Office to address the 'damage' caused by erroneous press coverage based on incorrect Home Office information.
The Home Office subsequently accepted the release containing false and defamatory allegations and made an offer of amends.
As part of that offer, the Home Office agreed to publish an apology, which was read out at the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday.
'On March 26, 2024, the Home Office issued a press release which contained false and defamatory allegations concerning FP McCann Limited,' the apology said.
'The press release stated that FP McCann Limited had been fined up to £225,000 in civil penalties for illegally employing five contractors at a mill in north Wales.
'This allegation was erroneous and false. The Home Office accepts that FP McCann's contractors were lawfully entitled to work the site in north Wales. FP McCann has therefore not been fined by the Home Office.
'The Home Office apologises to FP McCann Limited and its directors for publishing the false and defamatory allegations, and has agreed to pay it substantial damages, and its reasonable legal costs, as a result of the publication of the erroneous press release.
'My client is grateful to the court for the opportunity to make this statement in open court, and this statement concludes this matter on the part of FP McCann Limited and its directors.'
FP McCann said it is 'pleased to draw a line under this unsatisfactory matter following this morning's apology from the Home Office'.
The concrete firm is one of Northern Ireland's most profitable construction companies.
In the year to December 31, 2024, its profit after tax rose from £47.2m to £52.4m.
Over the course of the year, FP McCann employed an average of 1,673 people.
News Catch Up - Thursday 22 May
In a statement accompanying its accounts filed with Companies House, the firm's directors said: 'We have continued to invest in our facilities and people.
'We are confident this strategy will ensure the company will be able to capitalise on the growing demand from the construction industry to provide modular solutions to meet its needs in an environment of a declining skilled labour market.'