Latest news with #PeterMcVerryTrust
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Dublin City Council pays €2m a year for vacant hostel
An investment fund promoted by barrister and debt adviser Ross Maguire is receiving rent of €2 million per year from 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.'
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Investment fund receiving €2m a year in rent from council for vacant hostel
An investment fund promoted by barrister and debt adviser Ross Maguire is receiving rent of €2 million per year from 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.'
Irish Times
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Hundreds of homes for homeless in Dublin at risk as tender to manage them attracts no bids
Hundreds of homes, planned for Dublin's most vulnerable homeless population, are in jeopardy as a tender to manage them has attracted no bids, according to the Housing Agency and the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive . Dozens of people, who have been sleeping on streets or who have spent long periods in emergency accommodation and should have been offered housing, have not received offers. The Housing First programme, where entrenched rough-sleepers are provided with own-door housing along with wraparound supports to help sustain their tenancy, has been managed in Dublin by the Peter McVerry Trust , the homeless housing charity, since 2019. With the expiration of the trust's contract last year, the Housing Agency led a procurement process for the management of 540 tenancies and to meet targets to create hundreds more. READ MORE The agency sought bids for three 'lots' of tenancies. Though tenders were received from housing bodies for two smaller 'lots' of about 125 current tenancies each, the largest lot of 250 existing tenancies attracted no bids. There are currently 540 Housing First tenancies in Dublin, with a further 581 across eight regions outside the capital. The programme's current difficulties are limited to properties in Dublin. The programme for government set a target of expanding the scheme – regarded as hugely successful in tackling long-term homelessness among single adults – to 2,000 nationally, including hundreds more in Dublin. [ Child-focused homelessness strategy needed, says Ombudsman Opens in new window ] A target of 143 additional tenancies were to be created this year, with another 143 next year in Dublin. Sources say fewer than 10 have been created so far this year. 'The scheme has effectively been paused,' said a senior housing sector source. 'It means really vulnerable people who would be put forward for housing with all the wraparound supports, or individuals who have been a long time in emergency accommodation and need those extra supports going into housing, are just being left.' In addition, supports for existing tenancies are said to 'stretched', with staff from other charities, including Depaul and Focus Ireland assisting Peter McVerry Trust's Housing First staff. 'The Government has made a complete mess of this tender process,' said Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin. 'As a result, existing Housing First tenants are not getting the support they need and vital new housing first tenancies are not being created.' [ 'A grim situation': Number of homeless people rises further Opens in new window ] The Dublin Region Homeless Executive, which provides statutory supports to the scheme, said the delay incompleting the tender has 'hindered the growth of the service in 2025″. 'However, all stakeholders are working collaboratively to consolidate the Housing First programme and support the current Housing First tenants.' A Housing Agency spokeswoman said its Housing First national office was working to ensure current tenancies are protected and future tenancies will be created under the tender process. She said 'challenges' facing Housing First included sourcing enough one-bedroom units and recruiting and retaining tenancy support staff.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Dublin hotel bought for €6.24m by McVerry Trust vacant since 2022
A Georgian hotel in central Dublin earmarked for homeless services has lain dormant for more than three years after the Peter McVerry Trust (PMVT) acquired it for €6.24 million with public money. The fate of the former Latchford's hotel on Baggot Street remains uncertain after prolonged PMVT turmoil over lax governance and financial controls. Ireland's largest housing and homeless charity struck a deal with the Government in 2023 for a €15 million bailout, but it is still struggling to overcome the legacy of its crisis. In April, former HSE chief Tony O'Brien became chairman of the body established by Jesuit priest Fr Peter McVerry. Fr McVerry will leave the board in June, after 41 years. READ MORE Monitoring experts from housing regulators remain in place in the PMVT, whose 2023 financial statement is long overdue but likely to be published next month. DCC and PMVT are in discussions about a number of its capital assets that it is not in a position currently to advance Latchford's is in two adjoining four-storey buildings opposite the headquarters of the Department of Health, in the core business district of the city. The redbrick building is a protected structure, with any structural change subject to special controls. Owners are required to prevent such buildings from becoming endangered. Latchford's was put up for sale in February 2021 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic with a €5 million price tag. The next year, Dublin City Council (DCC) provided €6.24 million in capital assistance scheme (CAS) funding to the PMVT to buy the hotel. [ What went wrong at the Peter McVerry Trust and why did it need a €15 million bailout? Opens in new window ] Such funding is a form of mortgage loan issued via local authorities to housing bodies such as PMVT. DCC retains a legal charge over the property, meaning the trust is not free to deal with or dispose of it without council consent. 'DCC and PMVT are in discussions about a number of its capital assets that it is not in a position currently to advance,' DCC said. The trust aimed to use Latchford's for temporary homeless accommodation, but faced planning difficulties. Ireland's largest housing and homeless charity struck a deal with the Government in 2023 for a €15 million bailout, but it is still struggling to overcome the legacy of its crisis In 2021, DCC planners told PMVT that continued hotel use was exempt from the need to seek planning permission. Two years later, however, planners said permission was needed to use residential units as short-term lets. Asked whether DCC consulted its planners before funding PMVT's purchase of the property, the council said it did: 'The advice was sufficient to support the CAS acquisition by PMVT.' Citing 'financial constraints', PMVT said it was unable to proceed with its plans. 'As a result, the property has remained vacant while alternative solutions are being explored,' it said. 'Some work was undertaken on Latchford's Townhouse and Boutique Hotel to make it safe, but no major renovation was undertaken.' John Kinsella, a security equipment supplier, said his company Accura worked on the hotel site for two months on computer networks, electric gates, access control and CCTV. Accura was still owed about €35,000 for such work, Mr Kinsella said, adding that €215,000 was due for separate work for PMVT and subcontractors. 'For a small business, this is devastating,' he said. The redbrick building is a protected structure, with any structural change subject to special controls Solicitors for a PMVT subcontractor, which has initiated legal action against the trust, did not answer questions. Mr Kinsella said new fridges and satellite TV sets were installed in Latchford bedrooms before work stopped. 'At this point, three years on the warranties would have expired on all that equipment,' he said. There was no PMVT response to comments from Mr Kinsella. He has raised concerns with the Dáil public accounts committee and the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA), which oversees the trust. Asked about the delayed financial statement, the AHBRA said it 'awaits the finalisation of PMVT annual accounts for 2023, which are a critical foundation from which the organisation can demonstrate its commitment to regulatory compliance'.
Sunday World
05-05-2025
- Sunday World
Down on his luck chef caught tampering with parking meter walks free from court
Thirty-four-year-old Ferencz Nagy, of Phibsborough, Dublin 7 pleaded guilty at a sitting of Mullingar District Court A down on his luck chef who was caught tampering with a local authority parking meter in a midlands town late at night has walked free from court. Thirty-four-year-old Ferencz Nagy, Peter McVerry Trust, New Cabra Road, Phibsborough, Dublin 7 pleaded guilty at a sitting of Mullingar District Court to causing criminal damage to a pay and display parking machine belonging to Westmeath County Council at Church Avenue, Mullingar, Westmeath on April 30, 2023. Nagy, the court heard, had been part of a three man gang who had been spotted 'interfering and damaging' the meter shortly after 11pm. Qualified chef Ferencz Nagy had "fallen on hard times" which culminated in his involvement in an incident that saw him and two other men attempt to interfere with a Westmeath County Council owned pay and display parking meter. Sgt Sheila Kenny, for the State, told of how Nagy together with his two accomplices were arrested a short time later after the trio had initially fled the scene. Judge Peter White was informed Nagy's involvement in the episode caused €200 worth of damage as a result. Andrea Callan BL, in defence, revealed her client was a qualified chef who had, up until recently, 'fallen on harder times'. She said those challenges had been aggravated by a 'very significant' alcohol addiction which had left him effectively penniless and homeless. In terms of his involvement in the criminal damage incident, Ms Callan insisted Nagy had played more of a bystander role than that of a 'participant participant' in the escapade. 'He was there and if the matter is being dealt with as a joint enterprise, he accepts what he did was wrong,' she said. Ferencz Nagy was handed down the Probation Act by Judge Peter White. Ms Callan added that while Nagy's work history was undeniable, his own personal circumstances had 'deteriorated significantly' in the last 12 months to such an extent that he had also picked up a bench warrant for failing to turn up in court on February 14 this year. She said that no-show had been fuelled by her client's lifestyle which had now 'degenerated into something chaotic' to such an extent he was no longer able to 'keep track of himself'. Ferencz Nagy outside Mullingar Courthouse. Judge White, in having listened to those remarks said the court was cognisant to how Nagy had 'fallen on hard times,' with the incident also coming at time when he had no previous convictions to his name. He subsequently applied section 1 (1) of the Probation Act and took the section 13 bench warrant 'into consideration'.
