Debts of €5.7m put developer Hassett into liquidation

THE BUSINESS OF property developer and builder Eamonn Hassett has gone into liquidation with a €4 million shortfall on the €5.7 million it owes to suppliers and sub-contractors.

Eamonn Hassett and Co Ltd, which is involved in developments mainly in the Dublin area, including the Ard Chluain apartment complex in Clonee, was wound up at a creditors' meeting yesterday. The company's statement of affairs shows that it owes unsecured creditors, consisting mainly of suppliers, €5.69 million.

The document states that it has just €1.72 million available to meet these debts, leaving it €3.97 million in the red.

Most of the unsecured creditors are small businesses which supplied building materials, services and labour to the company.

The creditors' meeting appointed Declan McDonald, partner with Dublin-based accountancy and corporate rescue practice Foster McAteer, as liquidator.

During the meeting yesterday, Mr Hassett, who owns 95 per cent of the company, acknowledged that he owed it €570,000 in the form of a director's loan. He said that he intended to repay this sum.

Abridged accounts filed by the company indicate that it has been losing money since 2005.

On December 31st, 2006, its profit-and-loss account deficit stood at €498,544, up from a €284,227 shortfall12 months earlier. The accounts also show that on the same date, Mr Hassett owed Eamonn Hassett and Co €146,506 and had received €94,201 in cash advances in the previous 12 months.

Fellow director and 5 per cent shareholder Bláithín Murphy, owed it €42,609 on that date and had received €11,037 over the previous 12 months.

On December 31st, 2005, Mr Hassett owed €52,266 to the company. Accounts for the previous year show that he owed it €40,895 on December 31st, 2004. During that year, the company advanced him more than €80,000 and he repaid a total of €150,000. At the end of 2006, Hasalb, through which Mr Hassett held some of his stake in Eamonn Hassett and Co, owed the company €150,010.

Mr Hassett also acted as a property developer and hired the building company to carry out the construction work on his projects.

Yesterday's meeting was described as acrimonious and many creditors expressed frustration when it ended in the early afternoon. One man, who did not want to be named, told The Irish Times that even while some of the amounts owed looked small, "people like us have our own costs and we can't afford something like this".

Charlie Cummins, of Kilkenny Scaffolding, which is owed €113,754, said: "We have workers to pay every week and we have suppliers to look after."

Other creditors include Shannon Valley Civil Engineering, which is owed more than €140,000, and Kennedy Mechanical Electrical, which is owed €185,079.

The statement of affairs indicates that the company has enough to pay the €13,683 it owes the Revenue and the €596,915 it owes AIB, which is subject to a floating charge.