Investment fund receiving €2m a year in rent from council for vacant hostel
Dublin City Council
for a vacant hostel.
Avalon House at Aungier Street,
Dublin
city, has been dormant since a legal wrangle six years ago when local objectors went to the High Court to block plans by the
Peter McVerry Trust
(PMVT) charity to provide homeless accommodation in the property.
The dispute led Dublin City Council to take over the McVerry Trust lease in May 2021. The council pays €300,000 in annual insurance, security and utility costs in addition to the €2 million annual rent. Apart from a ground floor café, the property is vacant.
Under the PMVT and council tenancies, the total rent bill was €10 million between 2020 and 2024. In the same period, the additional costs were about €1.5 million.
READ MORE
'Avalon House is not usable without significant capital works, as PMVT had commenced strip-out prior to the lease transfer,' said the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), a division of the city council.
A new planning process was set in motion in February 2023, but an application to develop a homeless family hub in the property has still not been submitted.
Since 2022, the landlord is Irish Social Housing Fund 1, an investment vehicle promoted by Mr Maguire in partnership with international investors. 'It is not my fund and I have no ownership in the fund,' Mr Maguire said in reply to questions.
A senior counsel, he came to prominence after the financial crash as a debt adviser to people in mortgage arrears and later moved into investment. The fund is listed among the partners of his advisory company New Beginning on its website.
Avalon House, once a medical school, is a protected structure, meaning owners are required to prevent it from becoming endangered. The building was a hostel for backbackers before the PMVT set out plans to provide emergency accommodation for up to 155 rough sleepers.
The trust had taken out a 20-year lease on the property in November 2019 with a company called Trittkopf, whose ultimate parent is BJM, a firm based in Cyprus. The city council took over the lease 'for the residue of the term' as part of the settlement of the court case.
When Irish Social Housing Fund 1 acquired Avalon House in 2022, Mr Maguire was described as its 'authorised signatory' in a planning submission to the council.
Mr Maguire suggested questions should be directed to the fund itself but a phone call to the fund was answered in his New Beginning office.
The fund is authorised and supervised by the Central Bank. However, the bank said it 'does not have any regulatory role to make publicly available the prospectus or financial statements of the fund'.
Responsibility for releasing financial information was with the alternative investment fund manager, the bank said. The fund manager, IQ-EQ, did not return phone calls or reply to questions emailed to a named company official in Dublin.
The DRHE said it considered 'all options' for Avalon House, including exiting the lease or an alterative use for it. 'A family hub was considered to be the only viable use,' it said.
'The DRHE commenced the capital works application process, conditional approval was granted by the DHLGH in February 2023 and full Stage 1 approval given in June 2023, following compliance with the funding conditions,' it added.
'In late 2023, the DRHE tendered to procure an integrated design team. An integrated design team for the transformation of Avalon House into a family hub was appointed on April 5th, 2024, and we are currently preparing a planning application for a family hub.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
32 minutes ago
- Irish Times
No Irish leader exerted as much global influence as Daniel O'Connell, commemoration hears
No Irish leader has exerted as much international influence as Daniel O'Connell with his Catholic emancipation campaign resulting in him being hailed a hero by all who believe in liberty, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said. Mr Martin said that the success of 'the Liberator' in campaigning for Catholic emancipation in 1829 led to people all over the world looking to Ireland for inspiration about how to bring together oppressed people to achieve dramatic breakthroughs. The Taoiseach was speaking at a State commemoration at O'Connell's ancestral home in Caherdaniel, Co Kerry, to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. He said aside from being 'an inspiration to many Catholic communities who faced discrimination and repression around the world, he was also an icon for others, in particular Europe's Jewish community'. 'And of course he was a leader and a symbol of hope for those who were campaigning for the abolition of slavery wherever it was to be found,' said Mr Martin. He added that O'Connell and Ireland's story was followed closely by newspapers and journals worldwide. READ MORE Mr Martin said it would be wrong to think O'Connell cared only about Catholic emancipation as his focus was on oppression generally. ' He believed that members of all religions and in all countries should have the right to fully participate in the professional and political life of the state. 'He was not looking for supremacy, but for equality and respect. And to achieve it he built an organisation the like of which the world had never before seen. There had been many popular risings in world history, but there was no example of a mass democratic political movement before.' He said O'Connell brought all the fire and determination that had characterised his legal work to the cause of Catholic emancipation, and, as he grew older, he became much more personally and deeply committed to his faith. Taoiseach Micheál Martin officiated at the commemoration marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O'Connell. Photograph: Maurice Gunning Mr Martin said O'Connell does not simply represent a distant part of Irish history but his tireless campaigning seeking to unite the Irish people behind the shared values of solidarity and justice means he remains an inspiring beacon for Irish people today. The event, at the OPW-managed Derrynane House, was attended by 200 invited guests, including Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan, who also spoke of O'Connell's continuing relevance in the modern world. 'The world can be a turbulent place, and it can appear to be worsening. Daily we see breaches in civil rights, famine and wars. We can draw strength from our past. We can remember what we have already overcome, we can look to the example of O'Connell. [ Daniel O'Connell would have enjoyed his life being celebrated 250 years on, says historian Opens in new window ] 'And when we do, we can see what one man was capable of achieving through peaceful means, and how his success motivated so many others in the global pursuit of civil rights and democratic reform,' said Mr O'Donovan. Among the guests, which included many public representatives, were more than 20 of O'Connell's descendants including his great-great-great granddaughter, Emily Lenehan, who delivered a reflection on her illustrious ancestor on behalf of the O'Connell family. The ceremony concluded with Mr Martin unveiling a commemorative plaque to O'Connell carved from Valentia slate and the planting of an oak tree, for which he was joined by two of O'Connell's youngest descendants, Finlay (12) and Charlotte Davidson (six). [ TV aerial in Daniel O'Connell stamp is a 'visual signal' to the modern age, not AI, says An Post Opens in new window ]
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on racist attacks: no place for hate on our streets
In recent weeks there has been a disturbing uptick in reports of violent attacks targeting ethnic minorities, particularly affecting members of Ireland's Indian community. Members of that community have spoken of rising verbal abuse and assaults on Irish streets, leading them to feel unsafe. Many such incidents remain unreported to the Garda Síochána, though details have surfaced on local WhatsApp groups. The situation has left many people feeling increasingly vulnerable as they go about their daily lives in what was once seen as a welcoming environment. And last weekend the Indian embassy warned its citizens to take extra precautions for their own security. Indians have become Ireland's fastest-growing immigrant group, with thousands receiving residence permits in the past three years alone. In a relatively short period, the community has grown to become the largest non-white ethnic group in the country, contributing significantly to various sectors of the economy. Particularly notable is the valuable contribution of Indian professionals to the health service and technology industries, where their expertise is in high demand. But many now report feeling a sense of threat. The Garda has responded to the reports of violence with statements emphasising its commitment to addressing the problem. But some victims, especially those who have lived in Ireland for many years, believe that things are getting worse. They point to an increase in hostile, racially charged encounters on the streets, fuelled in part by poisonous rhetoric on social media. All of this forms part of a broader, worrying trend that has seen public spaces and public discourse become sites of escalating toxicity. READ MORE Reports suggest that many perpetrators are minors, complicating the issue of legal accountability. While recently passed hate crime legislation now makes it possible to treat racial animus as an aggravating factor when sentencing, the effectiveness of this as a deterrent remains to be seen. The debate on regulating hate speech remains contentious, as evidenced by last year's controversy over proposed legislation on the issue, which was ultimately abandoned. But alongside legislation and enforcement, civil society and individual citizens also have a role to play in rejecting those who carry out these reprehensible acts. It is concerning that in some cases, bystanders have witnessed assaults but failed to intervene or report them. However, there have also been instances where members of the public have come to the aid of victims and brought the assaults to public attention. Such solidarity sends an unequivocal signal that racist violence is unacceptable. It is everybody's shared responsibility to ensure that no one feels unsafe because of their ethnicity or the colour of their skin.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Fine Gael significantly outspent Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin on elections last year
Fine Gael spent significantly more than either Fianna Fáil or Sinn Féin on elections last year, according to party accounts provided to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo). Fine Gael was the biggest spender overall on elections in 2024 and also the highest spender on the general election, according to the consolidated accounts of the parties. The accounts, published by Sipo, show Sinn Féin is the richest of the three big parties, with more income, stronger cash balances and an unmatched reserve of €8.7 million at the end of 2024. Sinn Féin, like the other parties, ran a significant deficit last year, in its case amounting to €1.6 million. However, it still finished the year with €4.6 million in cash, down from €5.3 million at the beginning of the year. READ MORE By contrast, Fianna Fáil had just €470,000 in cash at the end of the year. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil appear to have funded some of their election expenditure through loans, which the two parties will pay back over the coming years as they prepare for the next election, though Fine Gael is in a significantly better financial position than Fianna Fáil. The days when Fianna Fáil outspent everyone at election time are long gone, the figures suggest. This time, the consolidated spending shows Fine Gael spent €3.22 million on elections last year, substantially ahead of Sinn Féin on €1.7 million and Fianna Fáil on €1.69 million. Fine Gael spent more than €2 million on the general election, more than twice as much as Fianna Fáil, which spent less than €950,000, according to the consolidated accounts of both parties. Despite being outspent, Fianna Fáil won 10 more seats than Fine Gael in the general election. Sinn Féin also beat Fine Gael by one seat. [ Three constituencies that show why Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin outperformed Fine Gael Opens in new window ] [ Expect the unexpected: What the 2024 local and European elections have taught us Opens in new window ] Sinn Féin and Fine Gael each spent about €600,000 on the European elections, according to the accounts, with Fianna Fáil's figure much lower at about €320,000. Fine Gael also outspent its rivals at the local elections, with the accounts showing expenditure of €512,000. Fianna Fáil reported spending of €289,000, while Sinn Féin's accounts show it spent just €77,000 on the local elections. All three parties received more than €5 million in State funding last year, while the accounts of all three parties show they are also reliant on fundraising among their members. Sinn Féin has the highest income from donations, with €182,000 raised from individual donations and €52,000 from corporate donations. The party's organisation in Northern Ireland is not governed by the strict rules on political donations that are in place in the South. [ Who is the American who left €535,000 to Sinn Féin's US fundraising group in her trust? Opens in new window ] But it is Sinn Féin's cash pile – likely linked to a mysterious bequest from a reclusive Englishman, William Hampton, who left more than €4 million to the party in 2019 – that sets it apart from its rivals. Along with a substantial property portfolio, it means the party can record 'reserves' of some €8.7 million in its accounts. This is the first year Sipo rules have required the parties to produce consolidated accounts that show the financial dealings of all units of the organisations above a certain size. In a statement, Fine Gael cautioned against comparing the election spend of the different parties in the accounts. [ William Hampton: The life and extraordinary times of Sinn Féin's million-euro donor Opens in new window ] 'It would be inaccurate to use the published annual accounts of political parties without context to compare election expenditure by political parties,' the party said in a statement. It said there 'appears to be significant divergence in the approach to Electoral Act compliance by different political parties ... The extent to which election expenditure is funded by the Party HQ, by party subsidiaries that are required to be reported under the Electoral Act, or by party subsidiaries that are not required to be reported under the Electoral Act, varies for each party and candidate. This also has a bearing on the figures reported.'
