
Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney and family earn €10m for housing Dublin homeless
In figures first reported by the Irish Times, the Monaghan man and his family received massive payments while Dublin City Council spent some €50m on homeless accommodation and food costs between January and March of 2025.
The report claims that 14 of McEnaney and the family's companies were listed as recipients of payments.
The Irish Times reported that a number of companies tied to the McEnaney family received in excess of €1m in the first quarter of the year. Bluebros, owned by McEnaney's nephews, received €1.5m for the first quarter of 2025, while Brimwood Unlimited banked €1m during the quarter. A company owned by his son, John, and nephew, Gary, was paid over €855k for the opening three months of the year.
The McEnaney property portfolio stretches around Dublin with properties in locations such as Frederick Street, North Circular Road, and Lower Gardiner Street.
It is not the first time that McEnaney's figures have been published with his Brimwood company banking received €3.5m for the 4th quarter of last year, in addition to the €50.4m the company has received in the prior seven quarters, in a recent report about accommodating Ukrainians and International Protection applicants.
McEnaney had two spells in charge of the Monaghan footballers, between 2004 and 2010 and 2019 and 2022, as well as managing Meath and Wexford.
He also made the news after calling for GAA intercounty managers to be paid a grand a week and become GAA employees. He said that when managing his club, Corduff, and Monaghan, he never took any money and only accepted mileage expenses during his spells in charge of Meath and Wexford.
'The minimum wage is €14. Pay them 20 quid an hour. A thousand euro a week. Another employee of the county board and it brings it official. It brings it under the umbrella because this discussion needs to be had,' he said in October of last year.
'It needs to be sorted because it's getting out of control. Plus, we can have a scenario, we could have a sliding scale from Division Four to Division One but all centralised and paid from Croke Park.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Number of small claims court cases have more than halved since 2019
The public is lodging fewer cases year on year to the small claims court, according to data released to The Irish Times. In all, 2,081 such cases were lodged last year – a 55 per cent decrease from 2019 when 4,627 cases were brought. Courts Service spokesperson Gerry Curran said the reasons behind the decline were 'varied' and there might be 'a greater awareness among goods and service providers of the process and a willingness to settle complaints more quickly'. He also said 'the pandemic caused a downturn in the levels of business across various civil areas of the courts, as some commercial and consumer activity waned during much of this period'. READ MORE Small claims cases are a procedure for consumers and businesses based the State to resolve disputes up to €2,000 without need of a solicitor. These make up about 3 per cent of all District Court cases. For a fee of €25 people can bring claims concerning goods, services, damage to property or non-return of key money – which is a rent deposit for a room in a house where a landlord lives or for a holiday home. Electrical goods, furniture and fittings and holidays are the most common types of claims for goods and services. Overall, 65 per cent of cases are settled without going to court. This usually happens when the court registrar contacts both sides in the dispute after a small claim is lodged. Just under a quarter of cases lodged are heard by a judge. The likelihood of a claim succeeding once it makes it to court is quite high. Last year 70 per cent of the 478 cases which went ahead with a hearing were successful. The Courts Service said it had upgraded its website to explain the small claims process more clearly, with a guide to the procedure and notes on how to make a claim. 'We don't want one of the reasons people do not proceed with a small claim to be that they do not understand the process or it is too complex to proceed with,' Mr Curran said. 'An increased awareness of the small claims procedure and the simplification of the online process should see an increase in activity.' The Courts Service said claimants could not request a remedy for time spent dealing with the issue, emotional distress or costs related to making the claim. Debt cases, personal injury claims, disputes over hire purchase/leasing agreements, claims about residential rental deposits where the landlord does not live in the property, insurance matters and claims against government bodies are also excluded. For parties based in another EU country, the European small claims procedure should be used.


The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Dublin city derelict building numbers soar by 80% as old Victorian pub lies empty amid ‘far lower' than true data fears
Dr Frank O'Connor has said that the number does not reflect the reality of the problem in the city DERELICT DUBLIN Dublin city derelict building numbers soar by 80% as old Victorian pub lies empty amid 'far lower' than true data fears THE NUMBER of derelict building in Dublin city has soared by almost 80 per cent in the last four years, according to new figures. Dublin City Council's Derelict Sites Register shows that there were 131 properties in a dilapidated site in July of this year - up from 74 at the end of January, 2021. However, the local authority has now taken ownership of Neary's Bar and Hotel on Parnell Street, which has been lying idle for many years. The Council said it currently has no plans to acquire any more. Co-founder of the Derelict Ireland movement, Dr Frank O'Connor, has said that the number does not reflect the reality of the problem in the city. He said: 'You'll find there's a huge inconsistency across the country in terms of how local authorities tackle dereliction. 'From our work across the country, we generally find that the recorded numbers of derelict properties are far lower than the actual number, and from the data we have collected, Dublin is no different. 'We see so much dereliction in Dublin, and it has a huge impact on the community. They lose out on the potential that property could offer to the area. 'I don' t think there has been the cultural or political will to tackle the issue for the last number of decades, but that is starting to change. If you chat to people on the street now, they want change.' Change may be made possible through a new statutory instrument called a Special Purpose Vehicle. Green Party Councillor for Dublin's North Inner City, Janet Horner, said the Special Purpose Vehicle can be employed to combat dereliction in Dublin. 'The Special Purpose Vehicle is proposed as part of the Taoiseach's Task Force recommendations, but it really comes from Dublin City Council as an idea. 'Essentially, it provides for the creation of a development company, wholly owned by the city council. 'Because it's a development company, it's allowed to do things a little bit differently than the city council would be empowered to do. For example, it would to be able to acquire properties outside of the Compulsory Purchase Order process. 'It enables the council to take risks in relation to derelict properties in a way that it otherwise wouldn't.' 'If you look around the wider O'Connell Street area, along Abbey Street, Parnell Street and Marlborough Street, there are significant derelict and vacant sites there and that is a prime place where the city council needs to be intervening and actually acquiring those properties.'


Agriland
5 days ago
- Agriland
Video Young Sheep Farmers Visit Worlds Largest Fresh Food Market
A group of young sheep farmers from across Ireland recently travelled to France to visit what is described as 'the world's largest fresh food market' to find out more about how lamb is traded through the market. The young farmers on the trip are part of the Kepak Young Sheep Farmer Forum, a discussion group formed by Kepak to explore all aspects relevant to the Irish sheep market from farm to fork. Agriland was also in attendance on the trip to meet the young farmers and report on the visit to Rungis International Market. The Kepak Young Sheep Farmer Forum members are as follows: Aoife Mahony, Co. Galway; Michael Feely, Co. Roscommon; Darren Maguire, Co. Mayo; Rachel McCormack, Co. Roscommon; Morgan Neary, Co. Galway; Tom Larkin, Co. Meath; Nicola Kennedy, from New Zealand farming in counties Meath and Kildare; Paddy White, Co. Longford; Rachel Briody, Co. Longford; Mark Norse, Co. Wicklow; Billy Smyth, Co. Meath; Evan Walsh, Co. Donegal; Ava Moffit, Co. Cavan. Delegates on the trip arrived in Paris on Wednesday evening, July 23, and on arrival, sampled some of the French cuisine at the traditional French restaurant, L'Auberge Aveyronnaise. The restaurant had a number of plaques displayed at the entrance which are received when the premises buys the carcass of an award-winning animal. These plaques give the corresponding animals a premium price and are displayed in the restaurants the carcasses go to. Plaques on display at L'Auberge Aveyronnaise While beef and lamb were the mainstays on the menu, delegates also got the opportunity to sample dishes including frog legs, snails, and Aligot, which is a dish made with cheese blended with mashed potatoes. The role of tour guide for the trip was left in the capable hands of Joe Walsh, one of Kepak's longest-serving employees, who delivered an informative after-dinner speech on the first night on all aspects of sheep production both in Ireland and further afield and the requirements of the key markets Irish lamb is subsequently sold into. Joe Walsh has been working with Kepak for over 35 years A Co. Waterford native, Walsh started working with Kepak in 1986 buying lambs, and arrived in Paris to work for the company in 1988. Walsh, who is a fountain of knowledge by all accounts, is still based in Paris working with Kepak some 37 years later. Speaking to the group, he said: "August 1, marks the feast of Lughnasa, honouring Lú, the ancient Irish god of light, skill, and leadership." He likened Irish shepherds to Lú, a warrior and master craftsman known for his versatility and strength. He quoted from the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention which recognises certain practices or livelihoods as having 'outstanding universal value' and which should form part of the common heritage of human kind. "Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what we pass on to the future generations," he said. It was an early start on the Thursday morning of the trip with delegates gathering for the bus outside the hotel at 4:00a.m ahead of the visit to Rungis International Market. Located to the south of Paris, Rungis International Market is described as 'the world's largest fresh food market'. Speaking to Agriland, Walsh put the scale of the market into context, saying: "The market covers an area of almost 600ac. Lambs slaughtered at the Kepak Athleague site in Co. Roscommon that were sold at Rungis Market on the day of the visit "There is an annual turnover at the market of approximately €12 billion, there are approximately 1,200 companies and 12,000 workers here as well as 30-40 cafes and restaurants. "The biggest part of the tonnage going through Rungis would be fruit and vegetables. It would be about 70% of it but there is also a significant amount of beef and lamb sold through Rungis. ""A lot of the French beef in Rungis is sold on commission, everything Kepak sells in there is at a price. "Irish beef and lamb is perceived in this market as being of good quality. It has a great image." Meat and offal are traded in huge refrigerated warehouses at the market. Each seller has their own shop with carcasses hanging on rails. Buyers come along and put a mark on their purchased carcasses and have the option of getting their carcasses cut up further also. The meat is then loaded into trucks and dispatched to the shop or restaurant for sale to the customers. Some of the traders had pictures of the cattle breeds attached to the carcasses with the name of the breeder also available. Trading at Rungis begins at approximately 1:00a.m. and is largely wrapped up by 8:00-9:00a.m. It is not uncommon to see staff enjoying a glass of wine at 7:30a.m and a dinner, having finished their days work by early morning. The market is a hive of bustling activity with a real sense of the old-school way of doing business. The market is filled with characters, merchants and traders from countries all around the globe. Some of these people's families have worked at Rungis for generations and others are only new in the door. Photo showing Rungis Market in the early days The site offers a unique environment for people to experience the trade of fresh produce at the coal face and see first-hand what sells and what will not. With lambs from Ireland, Britain, and France and many other countries on sale in the market, competition on carcass price and quality is high. Buyers are all anxious to secure the best value and quality they possibly can. While there was a great display of beef and lamb in the market on the day, the drop in supplies of both across Europe was noted on a number of occasions during the visit. One of the traders had a large offering of lambs on their stand that had been slaughtered at the Kepak factory in Athleague, Co. Roscommon, earlier that week. Agriland spoke with a meat trader at Rungis, Francis Fauchere from Eurodis Viande, a third-generation butcher who has been trading at Rungis since 1985. Francis Fauchere from Eurodis Viande trades 1,000 lambs/day at Rungis The butcher trades 1,000 lambs/day through Rungis, half of which are Irish lambs and the other half of which are UK lambs. When asked by Agriland what he likes to see in Irish lamb carcasses, he said: "I look at the colour of the meat and carcass weight, I want them no more than 20kg". He also said he buys most of his Irish lamb from June to October. This butcher was also supplying 18 months dry-aged Wagyu beef from a producer group in Spain with 200,000 cattle in it. The refrigerated warehouses where fresh meat is traded continue as far as the eye can see Damien Conry from Kepak Athleague, who was also on the trip, highlighted how challenging it was for the first Irish meat traders and truck drivers who came out to France and continental Europe to sell and supply Irish produce. He said those pioneers forged the foundation market routes and market relationships for Irish beef and lamb - some of which are still in place today. There was broad selection of offal on offer at Rungis, including tripe, liver, feet, and cattle heads. There was also produce from other Irish processors spotted in the market. Delegates also got a tour of the fruit and flower markets at Rungis. The fruit market at Rungis These are equally as impressive in scale, and Joe Walsh said the region of the market that sells the fresh flowers is often the site of heated negotiations as the quality of the flowers must be impeccable for resale. Next it was on to supermarket Grand Frais to view the Novo Viande meat counter. There was a display of Irish lamb here as well as a range of other French meat products. The forum then visited a Carrefour supermarket to see how the meat products are presented on the supermarket shelf and what the French consumer is looking out for. After some sightseeing around Paris, the Kepak Young Sheep Farmer Forum then visited the Irish College in Paris, where Co. Wexford native Fr. Jim Doyle shared some of his knowledge of French history and the role of the Irish College in Paris. After the short but action-packed trip, the delegates then headed back for the airport to return home. Since launching in April, the Kepak Young Sheep Farmer Forum, supported by Bord Bia and Mountbellew Agricultural College, has brought together a dynamic group of young farmers to explore innovation and best practices in sheep farming. Participants have taken part in a range of activities including a visit to the Kepak Athleague factory in Co. Roscommon, tours of lowland and hill farms and an education session with researchers from Teagasc Athenry, Co. Galway.