HOTELIER TOM Moran is facing legal action for the payment of a debt of almost €1.5 million resulting from a dispute over the final construction cost of his family home in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
In 2006, Mr Moran, best known as the owner of the group that owns hotels such as the Red Cow in Dublin and Silver Springs in Cork, hired Cormore Construction to work on building a new family home on Whitechurch Road in Rathfarnham.
After construction was finished in 2008, Cormore calculated that the final bill due from Mr Moran was €640,000 and presented a bill for that figure. However, Mr Moran disputed the sum and the bill has not been settled.
This week, Cormore began legal proceedings to recover €1.48 million from Mr Moran.
The figure includes the original €640,000 bill, an extension of time charge, as the work took longer than originally scheduled, and interest and penalties, which are being imposed according to EU legislation on late payments.
Cormore director Ciarán O’Hagan confirmed that the company had begun proceedings against Mr Moran. The action is being taken in the High Court, and Mr Moran has 10 days to respond. If he does not, the company can seek to get a judgment against him.
Following the presentation of the final bill, the two sides met to discuss the issue in April 2009.
At that point Mr Moran’s representative argued that he had actually overpaid Cormore by an estimated €250,000 and asked to agree a schedule for the repayment of that sum.
The issue subsequently went to conciliation under the auspices of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, which offers this service in building contract disputes. The institute appointed Arthur Hickey as a conciliator.
Representatives of both sides engaged in this process, which lasted until March last year but failed to yield a result. Cormore subsequently decided to take legal action.
Mr Moran did not respond to attempts to contact him for a comment.
Mr Moran’s business consists of 10 hotels in Ireland and four in England, which operate under the Moran or Bewley’s brand.
