Irish Luxury Property Developer Goes Broke

Irish Luxury Real Estate Development firm, KILROE Developments Ltd has gone into liquidation owing €3.8m to over three hundred companies and individual contractors.

Kilroe developments built luxury homes for Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, Johnny Ronan of Treasury Holdings and Adam Clayton of U2 and is the most prominent of 3 contractors and developers to collapse last week reports the Irish Independent.

Founded in 1997, Kilroe Developments was a potent symbol of the building boom during the last decade with a wide range of blue chip clients.

The company now owes the Inland Revenue more than €786,000, including €241,000 in VAT and €162,000 in PAYE and PRSI contributions. Employees are also owed €214,000, including wages, redundancy and money in lieu of notice.

At a stormy meeting of creditors held at the Marriot Johnstown House Hotel in Enfield, creditor after creditor claimed they are owed between 30 and 40 per cent more than the figures noted in a list of unsecured creditors supplied by the developer.

At the meeting Mr Alan Fitzpatrick was appointed liquidator. He told the Sunday Independent yesterday that the company’s difficulties stemmed from the downturn in the construction industry “and a number of other factors” but declined to elaborate or comment further.

Kilroe Developments was headed up by Paul Victory and Peter J Joyce and headquartered in Enfield, Co. Meath.

The company built a number of individual luxury homes in the K Club, venue of the 2006 Ryder Cup.

In 2001, the company signed a €3.8m contract to build No.1 Burlington Road, the landmark home of Johnny Ronan of Treasury Holdings, and also built Heather Cottage, the stunning but controversial house built on Howth’s East Mountain.

In 2005 the firm was paid €6.5m to build at the Danesmoate demesne of Adam Clayton in Rathfarnham.

The company also built Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House in Westmeath for €7.5m and later completed a €1m extension there.

Kilroe also built high-end housing estates in Naas and other midland areas.

Many of the 319 unsecured creditors are still owed substantial sums, with one Northern Ireland based company owed €421,000 and many other small and medium sized companies owed in excess of €100,000.

It’s feared that Kilroe Developments’ difficulties could leave some of its creditors facing severe problems.

The total owed to unsecured creditors is €3,845,175.

According to a Directors’ Statement of Affairs, the company’s realizable assets total €1,289,818.

However, the company owes almost €1m to preferential creditors, including the Revenue Commissioners and staff as well as the €3,845,175 in unsecured monies owed to suppliers and contractors. The deficit before shareholders is €3,579,061 and it would appear unlikely that any shareholders will be paid.

Kilroe Developments is not the only casualty of the construction collapse.

On Friday in the Dublin High Court, a provisional liquidator was appointed to two related property development companies in the Dublin area.

David Hughes of Ernst & Young was appointed provisional liquidator to Denis Finn Ltd (DFL) and a related company, Keverville Ltd.

Mr Justice Peter Charleton was told that the companies were insolvent and unable to pay their debts.

John Breslin for the companies said that houses built by DFL were “simply not selling” in very adverse trading conditions. All of these companies were experiencing serious cash flow problems and had been unable to raise further financing from the banks, the court was told.

The company has a number of sites in the Howth and Sutton areas of Dublin.