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Home Office issues apology over immigration raid

Rory O'Reilly
BBC News NI
Google Maps A blue concrete mixer lorry with the FP MCCann logo on it is leaving a depot. Behind the vehicle there is a large grey building.  Google Maps
An FP McCann vehicle leaving its headquarters outside Magherafelt

The Home Office has issued a public apology and paid substantial damages to a County Londonderry manufacturing firm following an immigration enforcement raid on one of its work sites last year.

In March 2024, concrete supplier FP McCann was referred for a penalty of up to £225,000 for employing five illegal contractors on one of its sites in Wales.

The company was issued with civil penalty referral notice, pending a review of evidence from the site visit and company records.

The Home Office then issued a "no action notice" the following month, confirming the company was not liable for a civil penalty.

At the High Court in Belfast on Thursday, the Home Office issued an apology to FP McCann Limited and its directors for publishing "false and defamatory allegations" in a press release in March 2024.

It agreed to pay the firm substantial damages and its reasonable legal costs for the "erroneous and false" allegation.

It added that the Home Office accepts that FP McCann's contractors were "lawfully entitled to work the site in North Wales".

In a statement, FP McCann said it was pleased to draw a line under this unsatisfactory matter following the apology from the Home Office.