‘Give them no hope’ – Rathwood messages show continued involvement of Keogh brothers

The Keogh brothers, who ran troubled retailer Rathwood before it went into examinership last April, remain heavily involved in the company and are in regular communication with the new owners about the day-to-day running of the business.

The continuing involvement of James and Thomas Keogh comes after Rathwood’s sale to a consortium headed by Kevin Nolan, who runs a Cork-based corporate advisory firm.

An extensive series of internal messages seen by The Irish Times indicates the Keogh brothers have been involved in discussions about which employees should be kept on or let go and how certain creditors and the business should be managed in the wake of a dramatic fall from grace in recent years.

Complaints about Rathwood’s inability to fulfil orders first emerged in mid-2025, with Rathwood’s problems deepening last winter. In April the company went into examinership, after which it emerged that about 7,000 customers had bought products from Rathwood that were never delivered, with close to €3 million owed.

In July the High Court approved a €750,000 rescue scheme which saw Nolan and a consortium taking over. Customers owed money were promised refunds of just 0.25 per cent.

Confirming the scheme, Judge Rory Mulcahy said the manner in which the business had been managed before its examinership remained of “significant concern” and he noted liabilities of more than €21 million when it entered examinership.

Keith Farry, for the Keogh family directors of Rathwood, told the court his clients were undertaking not to act as directors of the company for a period of five years.

They have remained involved, however, and in one exchange between James Keogh and Nolan last month, Keogh suggested a redundancy package for some staff of €5,000 was a “clever” move. “Give them no hope, only 3 days a week or €5,000,” Keogh told Nolan. He suggested staff might simply choose to leave “if they know there is NO hope of the big pay-off”.

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In another piece of correspondence, James Keogh dismissed an employee suggestion that the retailer’s popular Christmas experience should involve local market stalls and craft markets and said such stalls were a “waste of time and never pay”. He dismissed “craft people” as “painful”.

Keogh also said employees were “scared” of the new chief executive, “which is ideal”.

In another sequence Keogh outlined how various staff should be treated, with “let go” or “really needs to go” appearing after some names.

In another exchange Keogh said a supplier was said to be “desperate to get back on track”.

In response Nolan said the desperation was “no harm, we keep it sweating until early next week. You get to play the Kevin card; ‘he’s not happy etc but you’re trying to get it sorted’,” which was answered with a “100 per cent” emoji from Keogh.

Many serious conversations, including some in which the Keoghs and Nolan discussed how little some creditors would be getting back as a result of the examinership process, were peppered with emojis including crying/laughing faces and devils.

In response to queries from The Irish Times Nolan said he had “drawn on the knowledge and experience of the inherited Rathwood management team, including James and Thomas Keogh, to understand the business and support its transition” and added that “given the complexity of the business and the circumstances in which it emerged from examinership, that was both necessary and commercially sensible”.

He insisted that since his consortium acquired Rathwood “the business has been under my full control” and he stressed that neither of the Keogh brothers had any “ownership, control or decision-making authority within Rathwood”.

“The fact that views or recommendations were expressed in private Slack exchanges does not mean those individuals made the decisions, nor should my failure to challenge every comment be interpreted as agreement with the language used. Decisions on staffing, suppliers and the operation and future direction of Rathwood rest with me,” he said.

He also said he rejected “any suggestion that seeking information and operational assistance from people with long-standing knowledge of Rathwood was contrary to the restructuring approved by the High Court. Evergreen owns Rathwood, I control the business and all material decisions are made by me.”

Both James and Thomas Keogh were contacted for comment.