Clontarf Baths owners were swimming in a €29m debt to Nama
…and now they’re looking for taxpayer money to open baths to public
THE owners of the Clontarf Baths – who are seeking public money to help open the baths – have been pursued by Nama for €29m for defaulting on loans from Bank of Ireland.
After a €2.4m redevelopment, publican and hotelier David Cullen opened a 250-seat restaurant and bar at the seafront site following a two-year construction and renovation programme that included the restoration of the open-air seawater baths.
The Cullen family had been granted permission to build a restaurant at the landmark north Dublin site on condition that they reopen the seawater baths there to the public.
But although the restaurant opened last month, the redeveloped baths remain closed as the Cullen family say they cannot afford the insurance money to open them to the public.
They plan to open them to members of sports clubs next month.
They have now sought financial aid from Dublin City Council and Dublin Port to help open the baths.
However, a senior council official told the Irish Mail on Sunday that there is ‘disbelief’ that Mr Cullen Sr should be seeking public money when he ‘effectively owes the tax payer €29m’.
The council is now investigating whether the Cullens are in breach of its planning permission for failing to open the baths.
Council inspectors are also investigating three structures adjoining the restaurant which they believe have been constructed without planning permission.
Mr Cullen had a judgment from Nama for €29m registered against him in 2013. He is behind the development of Seafield Hotel and resort in Co. Wexford and the Turk’s Head pub in Dublin.
In 2010, Nama took over loans advanced by Bank of Ireland from 2002 to Mr Cullen for several purposes, including the development of the Turk’s Head and the Paramount Hotel, and the Seafield Hotel and apartments in Ballymoney, Co. Wexford.
He was later discharged from bankruptcy in the UK in 2015.
He was also pursued by Nama for allegedly transferring 40 properties to his wife, Mary.
The case was settled on undisclosed terms.
Clontarf councillor Deirdre Heney said that although she would do everything possible to get the baths open to the public, she did not believe ‘people indebted to Nama should be getting public money’.
‘People in Clontarf are hugely disappointed that the baths are not open. They were expecting baths and, as yet, they have none. The restaurant in itself is a great amenity for the area but we need to get the baths open. Whether the council helps financially with that, I very much doubt it.’
Mr Cullen’s son, also David, who is managing the baths, has said they will cost €400,000 a year to operate and they have asked Dublin City Council to help them with that cost so they can grant access to the wider public, which was their ‘ultimate goal’.
He said bringing the pool to the wider community was ‘not really feasible’ for a private enterprise and that issues such as insurance and health and safety were making it difficult.
Mr Cullen said there was a chance the baths would not be opened to the general public if they did not receive financial support for the project, adding that it would be a shame if that happened.
Dublin City Council said the Clontarf Baths is a private enterprise and that it is not in a position to subsidise the cost of running the pool.
The management of the Clontarf Baths and a representative of Mr Cullen Sr failed to respond to queries, despite a number of requests for comment this week.
A spokesman for Nama said it could not comment on individual debtors.
The redeveloped baths remain closed ‘Cullens say they can’t afford the insurance’