24 January 2012 Last updated at 10:50 ET

Two directors of Belfast architecture firm banned

Two directors of a failed chartered building and surveying firm have been disqualified from acting as company directors for seven years.

Jerome Gerard McGinnity, 44, of Ardenlee Avenue in Belfast, and David Gantley, 45, of Kathleen Avenue in Helens Bay, ran McGinnity Gantley Limited.

It went bust in August 2009.

Creditors of the firm were owed £185,963 - most of which was unpaid tax.

The Department of Enterprise said the men had also paid themselves more than the company could afford at a time it was in trouble.

They also "preferred themselves" by writing off balances totalling £100,442 in the McGinnity Gantley partnership account as bad debts.

The company was founded in 2002 and operated from premises at University Street in Belfast, with clients including Queen's University.

Forty-six people in Northern Ireland have been disqualified from acting as directors in the financial year commencing 1 April 2011.