Gavin’s Irish company withers away

The Irish-based garden design firm controlled by celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin has withered away while his UK firm continues to blossom.

This is disclosed in new accounts lodged by the best- selling author and television presenter in Ireland and the UK that reveal Mr Gavin’s Irish-based company ceased trading last year.

Accounts filed by Mr Gavin’s Diarmuid Gavin Designs Ireland Ltd confirm that in the year to the end of August 31 last, the firm ceased to trade.

A note in the accounts discloses that “it is the intention to request a voluntary strike off of the company”.

It leave will Mr Gavin and fellow director Annmarie Dermody taking a hit on the €71,897 they lent the firm.

The accounts disclose that Ms Dermody was owed €68,832 at the end of August last by the company and Mr Gavin had a much smaller exposure and was owed €3,065.

However, a note stated that the company will discharge all liabilities with the exception of the amounts owed to the directors.

At the end of August last, the firm was sitting on accumulated losses of €71,895 that represented the monies owed by the firm to the two — taking into account called-up share capital of €2.

However, separate accounts filed by Mr Gavin’s London-based Diarmuid Gavin Designs Ltd for the 12 months to the end of December 2013 paint a rosier picture, with the firm recording a profit as accumulated losses reduced by £19,025 (€25,703) from £195,015 to £175,990.

The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of £1,740 for the year. Cash at the firm increased from £102 to £2,173.

Efforts to make contact with Mr Gavin for comment were unsuccessful.

Last year, Mr Gavin’s gold-medal winning creation at the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show that subsequently became mired in controversy was finally opened to the public in Cork.

Mr Gavin’s Sky Garden in Fitzgerald Park is part of a €2.3m regeneration of the park.

Mr Gavin was commissioned to design an iconic garden in a partnership project between Fáilte Ireland and Cork City Council.

It was envisaged the garden would be dismantled after Chelsea and shipped back to Cork where it would be rebuilt and used as an urban tourist attraction.

However, relations between Mr Gavin and city officials overseeing the project subsequently broke down, before it finally opened to the public last year.