Republic of Ireland football shirt supplier may be wound up over €13m debt

The High Court has been asked to wind up the supplier of kit for Ireland's international football teams and others over unpaid debts of more than €13 million.

JACC Sports Distributors Ireland supplies jerseys and sportswear for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) which is worn by the national teams and is the firm's most valuable contract.

It also has a number of other club supply deals, including with Connacht Rugby, smaller League of Ireland clubs as well as a valuable contract with the FAI's exclusive retail partner, Elverys, the court heard.

It owns and holds stock at a warehouse at Parkway Business Centre Ballymount, Dublin, while it also buys and sells its stock from a third-party owned warehouse at Citywest Business Campus, also Dublin.

Last Monday, the FAI announced it was terminating its sponsorship agreement with JACC and while the FAI did not say why, the court was told the association is a significant creditor of JACC.

On Wednesday, JACC's largest creditor, Deal Partners Logistics Ltd - owed nearly €7.3m - petitioned Mr Justice Brian O'Moore to appoint a provisional liquidator to the firm. The application was adjourned to Thursday.

Deal Partners provide logistics, product procurement, and purchasing sales services. It entered into trade and buy back agreements with JACC which allowed JACC to cashflow the acquisition of stock while affording it a window of time in which it could re-sell the stock before having to pay Deal Partners.

Under these agreements, title of the stock remained with Deal Partners while JACC held the proceeds of the sale of sportswear on trust for Deal.

As a result of what it says was the failure to make scheduled payments in the last few months, and because of "inadequate financial