Kildare businessman shares €10.5m dividend

A Kildare man shared a dividend of €10.5 million with another individual at a company, which owns and operates the Breaffy House Resort in Co Mayo and provides accommodation to refugees.

The dividend payout last year by Tirawley Ltd follows the company recording bumper profits in recent years on the back of state contracts to accommodate Ukrainians and International Protection (IP) applicants at the resort property.

In an annual return made up to September of this year, they show that Owen Kelly of Naas owned 25 per cent of the share capital of the company while Cyril Duffy with a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia address owned 75 per cent.

Last year, pre-tax profits at Tirawley Ltd increased by 31 per cent to €8.46 million and the jump in profits at the Castlebar-based firm followed revenues rising by 13 per cent from €19.04 million to €21.49 million.

The 13 per cent increase in revenues followed revenues surging by 40 per cent from €13.59 million to €19.04 million in 2023.

The €8.46 million in pre-tax profits for 2024 follow pre-tax profits of €6.42 million for 2023.

Quarterly Purchase Order figures by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality show that Tirawley Ltd received cumulative State payments of €14.68 million (including 23 per cent VAT) in 2024 from it providing emergency accommodation for international refugees for the State's International Protection Procurement Services (IPPS).

The state payments last year included €5.6 million alone for the final quarter of 2024.

The principal activity of the company is the operation of a hotel and leisure centre at Breaffy House Hotel and Breaffy Woods Hotel at Breaffy, Castlebar.

The company also provides emergency accommodation for International refugees to International Protection Procurement Services, an arm of the Department of Children.

The return shows that on 30 October, 2024, Deirdre Murphy and Niamh Murphy each transferred their 4.15 per cent share, a cumulative 8.30 per cent of the company’s share capital, to Cyril Duffy.

The accounts show that dividends of €9 million were paid between 2 January, 2024, and 7 October 2024, with the final dividend tranche of €1.5 million paid on December 19th last.

In a reference to the firm opting for the State contract work, the directors state that the company’s exposure to adverse market risk “is limited due to the diversity of its current business model and its income stream”.

The directors believe they "offer services that operate effectively in an uncertain market".

The company last year recorded post tax profits of €7.4 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.04 million.

The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation charges of €328,684.

Numbers employed reduced from 160 to 155 as staff costs increased from €4.49 million to €4.94 million. The firm generated €12.2 million in revenues from ‘rooms’, while €7.3 million was generated from food.

The post-tax profits offset by the €10.5 million dividend payout resulted in the company’s accumulated profits reducing to €6.27 million.

The company’s cash funds decreased from €4.6 million to €1.96 million.