Debs ball organiser may owe more than €300,000 to hotels
Whether he will honour that deadline or not remains to be seen, but Pat Power, the hotel’s co-owner, isn’t holding his breath because, he says, Pat Browne failed to honour the €24,920 deposit which he was due to pay on July 20 for the 19 debs balls booked there.
Mr Browne, a 30-year-old self-styled events organiser, has left the house he rented in Upper Glanmire, Co Cork — allegedly leaving rental debts of several thousand euro — and his whereabouts were unknown last night.
However, fraud squad officers investigating the case say they have contact with him and that he has agreed to stay in the area and continue to help with their inquiries.
To date, gardaí have spoken to hundreds of teenagers allegedly affected by the case.
Technically, no offence will have been committed unless the money is not paid after the events have taken place next month.
Garda sources say Mr Browne, who is originally from Blarney Street, had claimed he’d made some bad business investments. However, it is believed that he may have lost a lot of money through gambling.
A senior garda source said Mr Browne was hoping to pay the money back, but had admitted he was not in a position to do so at present.
“He appears remorseful. We hope to send a preliminary file to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) within the next two weeks. We will need to talk to Mr Browne again. It is likely we will do this within the next month,” the garda source said.
Mr Power said Mr Browne had told him he had collected €195,000 himself from the 2,492 students on whose behalf he had booked balls at the hotel. Deducting the money which would be owed to the hotel, it means that students are also out of pocket by about €80,000.
Shay Livingston, general manager at the Rochestown Park Hotel, said yesterday his hotel was owed up to €130,000 by Mr Browne.
He added that his legal representatives were intending to pursue this through the courts.
In 2005, Mr Browne ran a number of events at the Rochestown Park Hotel and paid for them in full. The following year he asked for credit, and as he had a good record this was given. But when the hotel sought payment following last September’s events, it was not forthcoming. Repeated attempts to recoup the money also failed.
Mr Livingston said that in February he had written to the schools that had used the hotel for debs balls, warning them that the hotel was not doing any more business with Mr Browne.
Both hotels have, however, agreed to stage Mr Browne’s events, much to the delight of students. They will only be charged cost price.
A number of businesses have also agreed to provide spot prizes free of charge.
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