RocDoc ‘certainly insolvent’ as High Court appoints liquidator

Company owed north Dublin landlord €155,000 in rent arrears

David Rock, founder of RocDoc Health Check. The company operated walk-in Covid testing centres during the emergency phase of the pandemic.  File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
David Rock, founder of RocDoc Health Check. The company operated walk-in Covid testing centres during the emergency phase of the pandemic. File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

The High Court has appointed a liquidator to Covid-19 testing company RocDoc Health Check after being petitioned by the company’s north Dublin landlord to which it owes more than €155,000.

Incorporated by Co Meath businessman David Rock at the height of the pandemic in August 2020, the company operated a number of walk-in Covid testing centres, including facilities at Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock airports.

In February 2022, it announced that it had agreed to occupy 22,500 sq ft of office space on 10-year lease at Swords Business Park in north county Dublin.

But the High Court heard on Monday that the landlord, Swords Business Campus 1 — a company controlled by the Sisk family — had issued a demand letter to the company late last year, seeking to recover rent arrears in excess of €155,000 by the end of November.

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Barrister Arthur Cunningham, for the landlord, told the court that RocDoc subsequently filed accounts with the Companies Registration Office indicating that it had cash and equivalents of about €2 million at the end of 2021 but owed its creditors €3.1 million, all of which was due over the following year.

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It is understood that by the time the landlord issued a 21-day statutory demand letter in February that RocDoc’s total liability had increased to roughly €308,000.

Petitioning the court to have Myles Kirby of Kirby Healy Chartered Accountants appointed as liquidator, Mr Cunningham said that RocDoc — which also paid out more than €2 million in remuneration and pension contributions to its directors, Mr Rock and Anna Rock in 2021, according to the accounts — had “no assets” and was “certainly insolvent”.

RocDoc did not object to Mr Kirby’s appointment.

Mr Rock served as chief executive of RocDoc Health Check from August 2020 to December last, according to his LinkedIn page, although he remains listed as a director in Companies Registration Office filings.

He and his wife are also listed as directors of two separate entities, RocDoc Baltinglass and RocDoc Ashbourne, which operate GP and minor emergency clinics in those locations.

Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times