Over €2m to house 80 asylum seekers. Who’s getting paid? Roderic won’t say
THE Department of Integration is refusing to reveal who it paid more than €2m for providing asylum seekers with accommodation at a landmark mansion.
The Irish Mail on Sunday first asked Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s Department two weeks ago for the name of the company given the contract to house dozens of women and children at Ryevale House, in Leixlip, Co. Kildare.
But the Department has repeatedly refused to state who is being paid to house more than 80 people living at the historic building. Usually, payments to private firms providing accommodation are a matter of public record. The names of these companies receiving lucrative State contracts to provide asylum and refugee accommodation are published on the Department’s website every three months, along with the amounts they are paid.
This week the Department of Integration secretary general Kevin McCarthy told the Dáil spending watchdog that funds cannot be paid to private companies unless they can provide a valid tax clearance certificate. Mr McCarthy also insisted his officials check with the Companies
‘In many cases, there’s a change of directors’
Registrations Office (CRO) to make sure these firms exist.
However, last weekend the MoS revealed how payments totalling €2.3m were made to an entity called Ryevale House in 2023, even though records at the CRO show no such company exists.
Questions were then raised as to how an entity – not registered as a company – could provide a valid tax clearance certificate and receive seven figure sums from the Government.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) deputy chair Catherine Murphy – who was among the committee members who quizzed Mr McCarthy on Thursday – told the MoS: ‘They’re [the Department] not doing anything like the background checks they need to do… I think it’s self-evident.
‘In many cases, there’s a change in directors so it looks like it may be the company that is getting paid may not be the company that got the tax clearance certificate.’
The Social Democrats TD noted one private accommodation provider in the west of Ireland appears to be on the Department payroll, even though the Revenue Commissioners has secured two court judgements against them.
She said of the company: ‘There’s a facilities manager who has been appointed, and it appears to me that NAMA [National Asset Management Agency] owns the building, judging by the Land Registry.
‘The person who is the facilities manager has two unsatisfied judgements secured by the Revenue Commissioners, and the company has no tangible assets. I can’t understand how someone like that can be a facilities manager.’
The Kildare North TD is also examining companies ‘who keep on changing their directors’.
She asked: ‘Who is the tax clearance certificate from? There are very, very large amounts of money being absolutely thrown at this… are you required to be notified of these types of changes? Some of them look like Lannigan’s Ball,’ she added in reference to the famous song, whose chorus includes the line, ‘I stopped out and she stepped in again, learning to dance for Lannigan’s Ball.’
Questioned about changes in company names and directors, Kevin McCarthy this week admitted he was ‘unsure if we’re required to be notified’.
A Department spokesman this weekend said due diligence checks are done to ensure firms have Tax Clearance Certificates, are registered with the CRO, and their premises comply with fire regulations. But in the case of Ryevlale House, the Department continues to refuse to reveal the name of the company paid over €2m last year. It also could not explain why the operators of Ryevale House appear to be the sole exception to
‘Ryevale House is paid under a company name’
the rule of releasing details about companies paid to house refugees. A Department spokesman would only say: ‘All companies receiving payment from the Department must have an up-to-date, valid Tax Clearance Certificate when each payment is being made.
‘This is checked each time an invoice is received from a provider. The Department can confirm Ryevale House is paid under a company name and is satisfied it and its owners are in compliance with our accommodation standards.’