Directors of the Irish company include: Enda O’Meara, Tifco chief executive; Brian Campion, chief financial officer; and Patrick Mabry of Luxembourg-based asset management firm Lapithus. Accounts for Tifco’s Irish holding company state its parent entity is incorporated in Luxembourg.The department separately paid €25.8 million to accommodate asylum seekers and Ukrainians in Travelodge hotels, which are owned by Tifco.
The company’s latest financial accounts state it had agreed to licence the entirety of its southwest Dublin hotel and convention centre to the department for a period of at least two years.The transit hub has been at full capacity since the start of this year, with more than 650 asylum seekers in the facility, where some men have been left sleeping on chairs for up to a month before securing a mattress.
The UK-based JMK Group received at least €17.2 million from the department to accommodate asylum seekers at its Holiday Inn Dublin Airport hotel. The company, set up in 2019, quickly established itself as one of the department’s biggest providers of accommodation for asylum seekers. However, the amount it is paid annually by the department in accommodation contracts has increased by more than €8 million, from the €15.7 million received in 2020.
Since then his company has been paid some €170 million by the State to house asylum seekers, department records show. The Irish Times sought to establish the largest providers by analysing logs of hundreds of department payments above €20,000 made last year, which the department is required to publish on a quarterly basis.
Michael Gillen from Tonaphubble, Co Sligo, is Bridgestock’s chief executive and chair, while Séamus Gillen from Tullamore, Co Offaly is its other director. BC McGettigan, a company run by Brian and Ciara McGettigan, of the Irish family-owned McGettigan Hotel Group, received €12.1 million to accommodate Ukrainians and asylum seekers at its Address hotel chain.
There is also a concern among department officials that hotels may be less likely to renew contracts to provide accommodation during the busier tourism summer season.However, many of the highest-paid providers have held contracts with the State since the system of direct provision was set up more than 20 years ago.
Two of the company directors are based in Canada – Patrick O’Callaghan and Mathew O’Callaghan – while Denis Williams and Killian O’Grady live in Dundalk.