Hotel linked to GAA manager pays €2.58m tax settlement
A HOTEL which paid the largest single settlement to the taxman in the latest list of defaulters has well-known GAA manager Séamus ‘Banty’ McEnaney listed as one of its directors.
The Westenra Arms Hotel Ltd in Monaghan town paid a settlement of €2.58m in the three months to the end of September this year.
The company behind the hotel is owned by another firm called Corvalley Enterprises, which is in turn owned
by shareholders including Séamus McEnaney and other members of his family, and Padraig Hegarty. The settlement was made on foot of a Revenue investigation and was for the under-declaration of PAYE, PRSI, USC and VAT.
Mr McEnaney has previously managed the Monaghan, Meath and Wexford senior football teams.
This year he has led Monaghan to the Ulster Minor Football Championship.
The Revenue Commissioners’ latest quarterly swoop also included doctors, farmers, publicans, plasterers, a musical instrument maker and Roscommon County Council.
After the Co Monaghan hotel business, the next largest settlement was for €1.8m. It was made by Patrick Abbot, a plasterer, of Árd na Gréine, in Tullamore, Co Offaly. It was a Revenue audit case and was for non-declaration of VAT. The settlement included almost €867,000 in tax, €334,000 in interest and €650,000 in interest.
Restaurateur Patrick Hyland made a €75,000 settlement in relation to his popular Pig & Heifer deli outlet at City Quay in Dublin. That was for the under-declaration of VAT.
Roscommon County Council was hit to the tune of €456,000 following a Revenue audit case for the under-declaration of VAT. It included €342,000 in tax owed, interest of €13,000 and penalties of €101,000.
The Revenue Commissioners said 25 of the most recent cases were for amounts of more than €100,000, of which five exceeded €500,000, and two exceeded €1m.
As of the end of September, €3.4m in settlements was outstanding. The Revenue said it “vigorously pursues” collection and enforcement of unpaid settlements.
The Revenue Commissioners also secured fines through the courts totalling almost €381,000 against people who had committed a tax or duty offence.