A subsidiary of a troubled nursing home company has fallen foul of Waterford City and County Council, which has filed High Court proceedings, new filings show.
The proceedings relate to more than €162,000 in unpaid council rates by Aperee Living Ballygunner Ltd, a subsidiary company through which the group controlled a nursing home on the outskirts of Waterford city.
The Irish Times contacted the council in relation to the case, but no response was provided before publication.
The council has already secured judgment against Aperee Living Ballygunner Ltd in the amount of €52,000, which relates to unpaid commercial rates. It is unclear whether the current proceedings includes the €52,000 judgment, or whether it is separate.
Aperee Living Ballygunner Limited was part of the wider Aperee Living Group, which throughout 2023 was found to have major governance and financial problems by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), the State agency that monitors safety and quality in the healthcare and social care systems in Ireland.
In a number of inspection reports, Hiqa found that staff in several Aperee facilities were using residents’ money to fund the day-to-day costs of running Aperee Living.
In relation to Aperee Living Ballygunner, for example, a Hiqa report from March 2023 stated that while “inspectors found that residents living in the centre gave positive feedback about the centre and were complimentary about the staff and the care provided”, there were significant issues related to fire safety regulations and the protection of residents’ finances.
Hiqa found that “residents’ monies were used on a number of occasions to pay the ongoing costs of running the centre”, and later reimbursed, which it said was “not an appropriate or correct use of residents monies”.
The Ballygunner nursing home, which was one of 10 that the group was operating in Ireland, was ordered to close by Hiqa in September of last year. The nursing home no longer accommodates any residents.
In November, the wider Aperee group of companies was bought by a consortium of Irish investors led by Paul Kingston, a previous chief executive of the nursing home group, in a deal that included the Ballygunner business.
Soon after that AIB, a creditor, moved to appoint Andrew Byrne of Deloitte as a receiver over the Ballygunner company. The Irish Times contacted Mr Byrne but he declined to comment.
Mr Byrne, as receiver, is in the process of finding a buyer for the nursing home. Any new owner will have to re-register the nursing home with Hiqa.
The most recent receivers’ report for the company shows that the business received just over €246,000 in the six months between October 2023 and April 2024, €32,548 of which came from the rental of apartments on the ground, and €213,508 of which came from the HSE Fair Deal scheme, under which the State part-funds the cost of private nursing home care.
The company also paid out a total of just over €204,000, which included €55,379 in property management fees, €27,803 in electricity and heating bills and €90,883 in insurance costs.
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