Former Kingscourt Brick Workers protest as Lagan Brick workers work on Kingscourts Main St came to a halt on Tuesday morning. The workers have been protesting now for over the one hundred and sixty days and still Lagan refuse to talk with them about any settlement

Lagan Brick has warned that legal action could result from delays causing loss of earnings through "illegal blockades" after furious Kingscourt Brick workers took to the streets of their home town on Tuesday, May 22.

The protesters stopped roadworks due to be carried out by the same group that gave them just an hour's notice last December before redundancy.

For 160 days now the workers have been protesting. At around 7am on Tuesday, over 20 Kingscourt workers met and protested at the long-overdue re-surfacing works to be carried out by Lagan Asphalt, an arm of parent Lagan Group - contracted by Cavan County Council.

Lagan's press relations company told The Anglo-Celt:

"Lagan Brick respectfully requests that former Lagan Brick workers cease their disruption of Lagan Asphalt works in Kingscourt town centre. Lagan Asphalt is a completely seperate legal entity to Lagan Brick with seperate shareholders.

"It has no relation to the Lagan Brick dispute and would be quite within its legal rights to seek financial recompense from any individuals causing it loss of earnings though illegal blockades.

"Lagan Brick once more asserts that it is fully engaged and making all reasonable efforts to settle the ongoing dispute regarding the unavoidable closure of its Kingscourt facility."

Though the presence of Lagan was seen as "a smack in the face" to the Kingscourt workers, tempers never flared and Gardaí from Bailieborough and Carrickmacross only attended the scene, making no arrests.

One ex-employee of Kingscourt Brick, Stephen Burns, said that Lagan was "absolutely laughing at us". "We've not had a word from them and people are angry, 'angry' actually isn't the word," he said.

"The road needs to be done, it's unfortunate it's come to this, people want to see it done, but they [Lagan] are making little of us but the local people here are behind us," added Mr Burns.