In December 2021, Premier Periclase, a magnesium manufacturing plant in Co Louth, dispatched its lawyer to the High Court seeking bankruptcy protection. At the time the business employed 94 people, owed Bord Gáis around €2.5 million, and announced it was weeks away from insolvency due to “unexpected and extraordinary” price increases in the energy market. Previously owned by Austrian refractory metal supplier RHI, the business was bought by Callista, a German private equity operation, in February 2021. However, it was heavily reliant on gas. And even before the invasion of Ukraine, gas prices had been spiralling. The company had a…

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