Who are the main companies involved in providing refugee accommodation in Ireland?

Last year, more than €2.13 billion in State funds was spent on accommodating Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants across Ireland.

The Department of Integration spent €1.49 billion on housing those fleeing the war in Ukraine and a further €640 million on accommodation for international protection applicants in 2023.

Official figures reveal exchequer funds are used to pay hotels and companies millions of euro in contracts to accommodate the more than 28,800 asylum seekers and 74,500 Ukrainians who need somewhere to stay. However, an analysis of this data reveals just a small number of companies receive a significant portion of the State funding put aside for this purpose.

Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, which is owned by investment group Tetrarch Capital, received €53.7 million in payments in 2023 to provide board and accommodation to international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees. It runs the 764-bed Citywest hotel and convention centre in Saggart, Co Dublin. Directors of the company include James Byrne, Michael McElligott and Ciara McElligott, who are also listed as directors of Tetrarch Capital and Mount Juliet Unlimited.

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Brimwood Limited was paid more than €30 million last year for accommodating asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees. Brimwood Limited is owned by former Monaghan GAA football manager Séamus McEnaney (55) and his daughters Sarah (24) and Laura (30). The company, set up in 2019, quickly established itself as one of the department’s biggest providers of accommodation for asylum seekers and, by 2022, it ran about one-third of the emergency centres.

The company’s annual Government payments have doubled since 2020 when it received €15.7 million for accommodating asylum seekers. Brimwood Ltd operates six locations in Donegal which house international protection applicants and three centres in Monaghan. It runs others in counties Cavan, Dublin, Louth and Sligo, according to Government records.

Guestford Limited, which trades as the Red Cow Moran Hotel, received the third-highest accommodation payment last year at €26.5 million. The hotel, which opened in 1996, is owned and operated by the Moran family and has 320 bedrooms. Four members of the Moran family are registered as directors of Guestford Ltd – Karen Moran, Thomas Moran jnr, Michael Moran and Tracey Moran, according to company records. Businessman Tom Moran, who purchased the site on the Naas Road in the late 1980s and set up the hotel, held on to it in 2014 when selling off his nine Moran Bewley’s hotels to Dalata for €445 million. Mr Moran died in March 2023 following an illness.

The Government paid €25.3 million last year to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees in Travelodge hotels, which are owned by hotel operator Tifco. Tifco also owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels at Dublin Airport and the Crowne Plaza in Blanchardstown, all of which have been used to accommodate asylum seekers. Holiday Inn Dublin Airport received the sixth-highest State payment of €23.3 million for accommodation provision last year.

[ New asylum-seeker accommodation agency is under consideration ]

Government records show Tifco received a separate payment of €16.2 million for other accommodation provision for asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees last year. Pumpkinspice Limited, a company set up by Tifo to develop the 393-room Travelodge Plus Hotel on Townsend Street in Dublin 2, also received €10.6 million last year for accommodation provision.

Mosney Holidays Public Limited Company, which accommodates several hundred asylum seekers at the former Butlin’s holiday resort in Mosney, Co Meath, was paid more than €23 million by the department last year.

Drogheda-based businessman Phelim McCloskey bought the site in the 1980s for development as a holiday resort. Mosney has been used as a direct provision centre since the inception of the system in 2000. The other directors of Mosney are Paul McCloskey, Sarah Gates and Ruth Kierans. Its main shareholder is listed as El Molino Hotels Ltd. The main owner of El Molino is Sonning Unlimited, based in the Isle of Man.

Windward Management Limited, which is owned by hotelier Patrick Coyle, received €20 million for international protection accommodation provision last year. Mr Coyle, who previously ran the Gresham Hotel, owns 99 per cent of the company, which specialises in managing hotels for clients. Jean Ryan, Brendan Curtis and Ian McSweeney are also listed as company directors.

[ Government has quietly shelved its plan to end direct provision ]

Allpro Security Services, which has an address in Oranmore, Co Galway, received €19.6 million in government payments last year. The two shareholders of the company, Alan Connolly and Conor Nolan, both stepped down as directors in 2022 and were replaced by Rachel McHugh and Christopher Moore. Director Brid Nolan also resigned late last year. The facilities management company offers cleaning, security, pest control, sanitary and landscaping services.

Next Week and Co Limited, which operates an emergency reception and orientation centre in Co Roscommon and emergency accommodation in a hotel in Co Cork and at another location in Co Kildare, received €19.1 million to operate accommodation last year. John Crean and Tony O’Neill are listed as directors, according to company filings.

[ ‘Mass influx’ of refugees due to European war seen as potential risk to Ireland ]

There are 49 international protection accommodation centres operating around the country with an additional 228 emergency accommodation centres for those seeking asylum and Ukrainian refugees. More than 500 people are staying in tented accommodation, with another 418 at the State’s national reception centre in Balseskin, Finglas, and 565 people at the Citywest transit hub in Saggart.

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