Developer Michael Murphy pays €7m to Revenue

Long-standing developer and South Dublin Construction founder Michael Murphy has made a €7 million settlement with the Revenue arising from its offshore assets investigation.

The latest Revenue defaulters’ list shows that 100 people and businesses paid €24.7 million in tax, interest and penalties in the first three months of this year. Mr Murphy of Highfield Road, Rathgar, Dublin, made the biggest settlement, paying €2.4 million in tax, €2.8 million in interest and €1.4 million in penalties for a total of €7 million.

The Revenue stated that the settlement was for “underdeclaration of income tax, VAT, capital gains tax” and was an offshore assets investigation case.

Mr Murphy is a well known developer primarily associated with South Dublin Construction, whose current projects include a group of new homes in Killiney which are selling for up to €1.65 million.

Commercial development

The business dates back to 1969 and was behind a raft of apartment, retail and commercial developments in Dublin city centre in the 1990s and the early years of this century.

They include Dean Court and Ardilaun Court apartments on Patrick Street, Kingscourt apartments and shops along the southern side of Parnell Street, Parkgate House close to Phoenix Park, the Dodderbank complex in Milltown and Dakota Court, overlooking the Royal Canal.

Records show that Mr Murphy was a director of individual companies connected with some of these projects, and of Astondale, which funded them.

Earlier this year, shareholders voluntarily wound up two – Astondale Investments and Astondale Construction, of which he is a director. Efforts to contact Mr Murphy for a comment were not successful yesterday.

Revenue has been investigating the use of various offshore accounts and other structures used to evade tax since 1999. Its 2015 annual report says that it had collected more than €2 billion from these by the end of last year.

The investigation also led to a settlement of close to €1.5 million by John Tierney, of Knapton Road in Dún Laoghaire, formerly a director of a business called Tierney Electrical Ltd, which was wound up in 2001.