'Mittal's betrayal of 400 workers'

On a rusty bollard at the worked-out Haulbawline steelyard overlooking Cork Harbour, the man who nearly scuppered Lakshmi Mittal's controversial purchase of a Romanian steel plant chuckled at the irony of Tony Blair's intervention on behalf of the Indian tycoon.

Joe O'Flynn said: "The same time Mittal was laying off men with 40 years service with no holiday pay, no wages, and no redundancy, he was giving Tony Blair £125,000 and a few weeks later Blair's helping his bid in Romania. Can that be right?

"I wonder why Mittal is dishing out largesse to Tony Blair and the Labour Party. I wouldn't like to condemn Mr Blair but I do think it brings into question the funding of political parties by private businessmen."

Irish steel union official Mr O'Flynn is entitled to be bitter. He and his shop steward warned their counterparts in Romania of the environmental damage, shocking safety record and betrayal of the 400-strong workforce in Cork a few days before the deal was due to be signed in Bucharest.

His warning lifts the lid on Mr Mittal's business practices and raises fresh concerns about Mr Blair's judgment in offering him such an enthusiastic endorsement.

When Mr O'Flynn told Romanian workers about Mr Mittal's operation in Ireland, it provoked fury and nearly finished the deal before Mr Blair stepped in.

The Cork factory shut on 15 June last year with the loss of 406 permanent workers, another 200 contract workers and debts of £35million. During Mr Mittal's ownership, the plant was plagued with problems, according to Mr O'Flynn, who told the Romanians how radioactive waste was dumped at the site, environmental pollution went unchecked and there was a serious lack of fire escapes and fire detectors.

Irish unions say one of the reasons Mr Mittal abandoned the factory last year was to avoid having to spend the estimated £9 million needed bring the polluted site up to European safety levels.