Niall Quinn overpaid council €100k

A council has admitted that it erred in over-charging former Irish soccer legend Niall Quinn over €100,000 in his plan to expand his Naas hotel.

In August 2014, Quinn joined up with Kilcullen Bakery to purchase Lawlor’s Hotel in Naas from examinership by making available €2.24m to fund a financial recovery for the hotel firm, Marchford Ltd.

The move by Quinn safeguarded the jobs at the hotel where 86 are currently employed.

Last year, Quinn’s hotel firm, Marchford Ltd secured planning permission for an additional 18 bedrooms and a breakfast room and bar and other changes to the hotel.

However, in granting Quinn’s firm the go-ahead, Kildare Co Council slapped a bill of €108,962 in development contributions on Quinn’s hotel company.

In response, the football pundit’s firm appealed the developer contribution total to An Bord Pleanála stating that the contributions sought were excessive.

In reply, the council admitted its error to the appeals board and stated that the bill should be only €8,178 — €100,804 lower than the original bill.

The former Arsenal, Manchester City, and Sunderland striker said: “Naturally, the initial council levy made this growth [in the business] unworkable so we’re relieved that the successful appeal means we can press ahead.”

The 49-year-old — who now owns a majority shareholding in hotel firm, Marchford — said “the business is performing on target”.

In its submission to the appeals board, Kildare Co Council stated that it laid down the €108,962 contribution bill based on wrongly calculating the floor area of the planned development to be 2,006m2 and applying the contribution rate of €53.31m2.

However, the floor area of the entire hotel is 2,006sq m and the council can only impose developer contributions on the extended floor area, which is much smaller at 188.19 sq m.

The council admitted to the appeals board that “the contribution was incorrectly applied” and stated that the charge per square metre should be €43.46 sq m instead of €53.31sq m.