But Invest Northern Ireland said they cannot offer any compensation to suppliers owed an estimated £17m by the firm.

Administrators have already laid off 190 staff as sites stopped in Northern Ireland and across the UK.

Administrator Tom Keenan declined to be drawn on the future of the remaining 140 employees at the firm.

He told the BBC: “This is a very, very difficult situation and we are working our way through it.”

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster recognised “the devastating effect that the failure of the Patton Group has had on the Group’s employees, their families and increasingly on the owners, employees and families of the Patton Group sub-contractors.”

But a department spokesman added: “It will not be possible to provide any direct financial support to creditors of the Patton Group.”