Blow For Irish Internet Scene As Another E-Commerce Business Flounders

by Lisa Ugur, Tax-news.com, London

18 April 2001

Just a month after the Irish e-commerce scene was hit by the gloomy news that Nua, the Internet consultancy, was on the verge of collapsing after a life-saving funding deal with a British investor fell through, a further blow has been dealt by Irish e-business consultancy Oniva Group, which closed down last week, after it too failed to secure an emergency rescue package worth around I£1m.

The company, which employed 65 in Ireland, ceased trading last Wednesday and a liquidator is due to be appointed. It's a worrying indicator for players in the Irish Internet arena, since Oniva was considered to be a well-established business, set up relatively early on in the Internet age - 1992 - and regarded as one of Ireland's top e-business companies. Last year it was set for international expansion, merging in May 2000 with German-based E-trend Media Consulting.

The end of the road came about very quickly for Oniva, which closed its Belfast office with the loss of 12 jobs at the beginning of the year, and its UK office in March. But the straw that broke the camel's back was the failure of the company to secure essential funds after a potential investor withdrew from negotiations.

Daragh Scaife of Oniva said the collapse of the company was indicative of the current general malaise in the Irish IT sector. The last quarter has seen several companies lay off large numbers of staff, or even shut up shop completely. Scaife warned: 'What it forbodes is that this is not the end of the problems for tech sector in Ireland. People are talking about the possibility of there being a fast rebound, but to be honest I don't think it's going to happen.'

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