Citywest Hotel in Saggart, Co Dublin, is run by Cape Wrath Hotel Unlimited, which is owned by Tetrarch Capital. Cape Wrath was given €53.7 million in 2023 to accommodate international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees. Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
Official figures reveal exchequer funds are used to pay hotels and companies millions of euro in contracts to accommodate the more than 28,800 asylum seekers and 74,500 Ukrainians who need somewhere to stay. However, an analysis of this data reveals just a small number of companies receive a significant portion of the State funding put aside for this purpose.
The Government paid €25.3 million last year to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees in Travelodge hotels, which are owned by hotel operator Tifco. Tifco also owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels at Dublin Airport and the Crowne Plaza in Blanchardstown, all of which have been used to accommodate asylum seekers. Holiday Inn Dublin Airport received the sixth-highest State payment of €23.3 million for accommodation provision last year.
Drogheda-based businessman Phelim McCloskey bought the site in the 1980s for development as a holiday resort. Mosney has been used as a direct provision centre since the inception of the system in 2000. The other directors of Mosney are Paul McCloskey, Sarah Gates and Ruth Kierans. Its main shareholder is listed as El Molino Hotels Ltd. The main owner of El Molino is Sonning Unlimited, based in the Isle of Man.