Department head 'unhappy' about housing charity leaving hotel it bought empty for three years

Secretary general of the Housing Department, Graham Doyle, told the Public Accounts Committee,  the hotel had been funded by his department before the difficulties at the housing charity had emerged. File picture: gov.ie

The head of the Department of Housing has acknowledged he is “unhappy” with a situation which saw the Peter McVerry Trust purchase a Dublin hotel for €6.2m which has lain vacant for the past three years.

Secretary general of the department, Graham Doyle, told the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that the funding for the hotel had been part obtained via his department. He said it is “working through” the options in terms of actioning the vacant building for social housing.

The Georgian building in question, formerly Latchford’s Hotel on Dublin’s Baggot Street, was first purchased by the charity in 2022 after being placed for sale on the open market.

The 20-bedroom hotel has remained vacant ever since in the aftermath of financial governance scandals which have shaken the Trust, one of the country’s largest providers of homeless accommodation.

Mr Doyle said the hotel had been funded by his department before the difficulties at the housing charity had emerged. He noted that the property had initially been purchased with a view to providing emergency accommodation.

“The understanding was planning was in place (for the hotel). Some planning issues arose in relation to it. I understand that the council and others are now working to look at how that property can be used for social housing at this point in time,” he said.

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Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe said the vacancy of such a property, given the struggles of the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive to provide accommodation and that the department had funded the purchase, is “questionable”. In response, Mr Doyle said he is “unhappy with that”.

He said, however, that the various recommendations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General on foot of the scandal – which suggested that oversight of grant funding to housing bodies be strengthened and that approval from the Department of Public Expenditure be obtained in each instance – have now been fully implemented.

The Trust had caused opprobrium among the committee members in advance by declining to attend to give evidence.

Mr Doyle, while declining to comment on that decision, did say that the 2023 accounts for the charity should have been published by now. The charity had said it may be in a position to give evidence at PAC once that publication has occurred.