Family companies of former Monaghan GAA football team manager Séamus “Banty” McEnaney were paid €24.4 million for supplying emergency accommodation in the first three months of this year, publicly available figures show.
The family group has grown rapidly over recent years providing emergency accommodation to asylum seekers, people fleeing the war in Ukraine and the homeless, while accumulating an expanding property portfolio.
The €24.4 million income figure is based on data from the Department of Integration (now part of the Department of Justice), which pays for accommodation for asylum seekers and Ukrainians around the State, and Dublin City Council, which pays for emergency accommodation for homeless people in Dublin city.
The group is also involved in providing homeless accommodation outside the Dublin City Council area. Revenue from that activity is not included in the €24.4 million figure.
RM Block
During the first three months of this year the group received €14.4 million for the provision of accommodation nationally to asylum seekers and Ukrainians out of the total of €401 million paid to all private sector operators, according to the latest quarterly report from the department on purchasing orders exceeding €20,000.
Last year the group was paid €63.3 million for providing accommodation for asylum seekers and Ukrainians, the quarterly reports show.
The council began publishing the names of private sector providers of emergency accommodation for homeless people this year. The first quarterly report shows 14 McEnaney companies were paid more than €10 million from the total of €53.4 million paid to all private sector entities during the period.
The McEnaney Group comprises companies owned by various members of the wider family, does not have an overall holding company, and does not produce consolidated accounts.
The group is involved in renting out its own property and property leased from others, according to company filings.
One of the larger group companies is Brimwood Unlimited, which has its registered office in Corvalley, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and was incorporated in 2019. The company’s directors are Mr McEnaney (58), and his daughters Laura (32) and Sarah (26).
As an unlimited company, Brimwood does not publish financial accounts. Tailte Éireann (formerly Land Registry) and planning application records show the company owns Dún a Rí House, Station Road, Kingscourt, Co Cavan; Avondale Guest House, at 40 and 41 Gardiner Street, Dublin 1; 15 to 17 Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9; 37 Drumcondra Road Upper, Dublin; and the Airport Manor Hotel in Knocksedan, Co Dublin.
A reply to a Dáil question in 2023 shows Brimwood was also associated with the provision of accommodation for international protection applicants in other locations, mainly in Dublin, Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan and Louth.
Last year Brimwood submitted planning applications in relation to 46 Cabra Road, Dublin 7, 34 North Circular Road, Dublin 7, and 15 Usher’s Island, Dublin 8, the site of the fictional dinner at the centre of the James Joyce story The Dead.
The company received €5.5 million from the department in the first three months of this year and €1 million from the council.
Another group company, JMA Ventures Ltd, incorporated in 2021 and with an address at Tydavnet, Co Monaghan, is owned by Mr McEnaney’s nephew, James McCarville (35). The company was paid €5.1 million by the department in the first three months of this year, and €170,748 by Dublin City Council.
The company’s latest accounts show the value of its property doubled to more than €3 million during the year to the end of August 2024 and Mr McCarville, the sole director, was paid €1.3 million.
Property records show it owns apartments at Westside, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and made a technical planning application in December 2024 to the council for 101 Northern Circular Road, Dublin 7.
Planning files show the council decided the continued use of the Dublin building, which was divided into nine units, to house homeless people to whom care was not being provided, was not a development requiring planning permission.
In 2023 An Bord Pleanála, now An Coimisiún Pleanála, found against Brimwood on its property on Drumcondra Road, finding that the building was in effect a type of hostel and required planning approval.
Oakgate Ltd, a holding company on Farney Street, Carrickmacross, owned by Mr McEnaney’s sisters, Margaret McCarville (63) and Bernadette Walsh (48), recorded an after-tax profit of €1.9 million in the year to April 2024.
At that date it had assets of €323,616, accumulated profits of €4.4 million, and cash in the bank of €5 million, according to its accounts. It was paid €4.8 million for the accommodation of asylum seekers and Ukrainians in the 15 months to the end of March.
Fernboro Ltd, with an address on Farney Street, Carrickmacross, is owned by Mr McEnaney’s son John (33) and his nephew Gary McEnaney (40). It has no registered mortgages but acquired property worth €6.4 million in the year to the end of August 2024, when it recorded an after-tax profit of €579,593.
It was paid €855,012 by Dublin City Council in the first three months of this year and €1.3 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March.
Some of the McEnaney companies show property being acquired without bank borrowings. Others show borrowings from other group companies. Others again show money being borrowed from nonbank businesses.
Highgrove Property Ltd was incorporated in 2021 and has it registered office on Crowe Street, Dundalk, Co Louth. The directors of the company, which was paid €3.5 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March, are Gary and John McEnaney, and Orla Marron (42).
Ms Marron is the wife of Ciaran Marron, founder of Activ8 Solar Energies. Mr Marron is the owner of a company in Carrickmacross called Accessridge Ltd, the latest accounts for which show it was owed €1.9 million by Highgrove at the end of 2023.
Longfield Ventures Ltd was incorporated in 2018 and has an address at Longfield, Carrickmacross. It is owned by Gary and John McEnaney and was paid €4.9 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March.
The company registered a mortgage in November 2024 in favour of Hanlon Transport Ltd, of Greenore, Co Louth. The property mortgaged is listed as the Hotel Rosslare, St Martin’s Road, Rosslare Harbour, Co Wexford, and The Square, Bettystown, Co Meath.
The 2024 accounts for Longfield show it made an after-tax profit of €917,010 and was owed €9.9 million by other McEnaney companies at year’s end.
The McEnaney group has offices on the ground floor of Essex House, on the corner of Essex Street and Parliament Street in Temple Bar, Dublin 8.
The building was acquired by Corduff JG Enterprises Ltd in August 2022 and no mortgage is registered. The same company also owns Bridge House, 24/25 Parliament Street, which adjoins Essex House.
Corduff JG Enterprises, of Crowe Street, Dundalk, was incorporated in 2017. It is owned by Gavin McEnaney, was paid €4.3 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March and was paid €264,396 by Dublin City Council in the first three months of this year.
It also owns 42 and 43 Blessington Street, Dublin 7, and property on Blessington Lane, behind the Blessington Street properties.
Corduff recorded an after-tax profit of €2.1 million in 2023, down from €2.8 million the previous year, according to its 2023 accounts.
It paid a dividend of €2 million to Gavin McEnaney Holdings Ltd, which is owned by Gavin McEnaney, and which received dividends of €3.5 million that year. The holding company had accumulated profits at the end of that year of €12.3 million.
As well as his involvement in the provision of emergency accommodation, Séamus McEnaney is also the owner of a building company, Clarlan Ltd, which owns several sites outside Dublin.
In 2018 Westenra Arms Hotel Ltd in the Diamond in Monaghan town, of which Mr McEnaney is a shareholder and director, made a settlement with Revenue Commissioners of more than €2.5 million arising from the underdeclaration of PAYE, PRSI, Universal Social Charge and VAT. The settlement included almost €1 million in penalties.
A request for an interview with Mr McEnaney was declined.
