The private IT company funded from monies left over from Eircom's €19 million Ennis Information Age Town project accumulated losses of €1.2 million in just over three years.
The company, Ennis Information Age Services (EIAS) shut in August and it is only now, with the company's accounts lodged with the Companies Office, that the true extent of the company's losses have emerged.
The accounts show that in the year to the end of March 2005, EIAS sustained an operating loss of €429,592. This followed the €790,355 loss the company incurred in 2004 and 2003, resulting in the accumulated loss of € 1.22 million.
In all, the failed venture used up €1.45 million from the €2.25 million left over at the end of the Ennis Information Age project.
In November of last year, the Information Age Town Task Force agreed to give EIAS an additional €100,000 in a bid to save the company, while another €100,000 is being spent on redundancy and wind-up costs.
However, the task force announced that it was shutting down the business last June as EIAS "has been unable to achieve a viable level of business".
EIAS - which engaged in internet consultancy and online marketing for private and public bodies - was established by the task force in 2002.
Ennis became Ireland's Information Age Town in 1997 and soon after 4,500 cut-price PCs were distributed to 82 per cent of the town's homes. Ennis's schools and businesses also benefited. However, the 2002 census showed that Ennis had fewer homes with PCs and internet usage than a number of suburbs in the greater Dublin area.
The accounts show that EIAS's gross profit and turnover increased last year to €299,465 and €403,072 respectively - however the company's costs in 2005 were €916,802.
Last month, in a statement, the task force defended its decision to establish the company, pointing out that consultants Farrell Grant Sparks were favourably disposed toward establishing such a company that would retain long-term benefit for Ennis.
The task force said that EIAS was set up to retain and create jobs, to retain the reputation of Ennis for IT innovation and to make profits to spend on more Information Age projects in Ennis.
