Citywest centre makes profit of €17.5m in one year from housing refugees

Gordon Deegan

The scale of profits recorded by the former owners of the Citywest hotel in Saggart in west Dublin from accommodating refugees has been revealed for the first time.

The former owners of the hotel, Tetrarch Capital, have lodged overdue accounts for the hotel showing that the business recorded operating profits of €17.5 million in 2022.

In August of this year, the State completed the €148.25 million purchase of the Citywest centre. Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan stated at the time that compared to the costs of the previous leasing Citywest model, the savings to the State will pay back the purchase price within four years.

He said that with the purchase, the State is estimated to save €1 billion over 25 years compared to the model for leasing the site, while also delivering a permanent State asset.

In October, rioters clashed with gardaí outside the Citywest International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) hub following an alleged sexual assault by a 26-year-old man on a girl aged 10 at Garter Lane in Saggart on October 20th.

Figures from the Dept of Integration show that the former owner of Citywest, Tetrarch Capital, owned Cape Wrath Hotel UC received €70.8 million in 2024 for housing International Protection Applicants (IPAs) and Ukrainian refugees at Citywest.

This followed Cape Wrath Hotel UC receiving €53.7 million in 2023 for accommodating IPAs and Ukrainians at Citywest.

However, the profits recorded by the Citywest company from accommodating refugees have been unknown - until now.

The hotel entered into an agreement with the State in June 2022 to provide temporary accommodation for Ukrainians seeking refuge in Ireland.

The State has leased the 764-bed hotel and conference centre since 2020. It was initially used as a Covid-19 testing and vaccination centre before being converted to an accommodation and processing facility for asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees in 2022.

Prior to its deals with the State, Cape Wrath UC was loss-making in 2019, where it recorded a pre-tax loss of €77,774 as revenues increased by 6 per cent from €28.82 million to €30.52 million.

The new accounts for Tetrarch Capital firm, Alva Glen Investments Limited and Subsidiaries, which includes Cape Wrath UC, show that arising from its deal to accommodate Ukrainians, revenues at the Citywest hotel increased almost threefold from €16.2 million in 2021 to €48.28 million in 2022.

The business recorded an operating profit of €17.5 million in 2022 compared to an operating loss of €798,801 in 2021.

The 2022 operating profit takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation charges of €4.13 million.

The group recorded a pre-tax profit of €14.7 million after it paid out interest charges of €2.64 million and incurred a property write-down of €135,000.

The group recorded a post-tax profit of €12.48 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €2.24 million.

The directors state that they consider the profit for the year to be satisfactory and the increase in revenues reflects the agreement to accommodate Ukrainians.

Numbers employed by the company in 2022 increased from 99 to 285 as staff costs more than doubled from €3.1 million to €6.75 million.

The accounts were signed off by the board in November 2023 but have only been lodged with the Companies Registration Office in recent days.

The profits for 2023, 2024 and 2025 will be disclosed when accounts for those years are lodged with the Companies Office.