Morrison Hotel to be run by provisional liquidator

A PROVISIONAL liquidator has been appointed by the High Court to Dublin’s Morrison Hotel after one of its owners, Hugh O’Regan, yesterday withdrew the hotel operating company’s defence to a claim by an Anglo Irish Bank-appointed receiver for €5.7 million in unpaid rent.

Liquidator Derek Earl will operate the hotel pending his replacement by a new operating company, and it will remain open for business.

An ashen-faced Mr O’Regan, surrounded by family and friends, sat impassively in the back of the court yesterday as Mr Justice Brian McGovern entered judgment against Morrison Hotel Ltd (MHL), the hotel operating company, for €5.73 million.

Paul Sreenan, for receiver Martin Ferris, then immediately applied to the judge to appoint Mr Earl of Grant Thornton provisional liquidator to MHL on the grounds that it was unable to pay the €5.7 million and was therefore insolvent.

Mr Justice McGovern said he was satisfied to appoint Mr Earl, and returned the matter to July 17th when the court would deal with the petition to wind up MHL.

Earlier, Martin Hayden for MHL said Mr O’Regan had had time to reflect overnight on matters in the court proceedings raised by the receiver and on comments by the judge and was no longer pursuing a defence.

In those circumstances, judgment could be entered, Mr Hayden said.

Mr Justice McGovern said he understood fully the “distress and upset of Mr O’Regan in seeing what was a very large enterprise disappearing before his eyes”.

Unfortunately, Mr O’Regan was not the only person engaged in successful businesses that had come unstuck, he added.

The judge said he had become concerned as to how matters were progressing in the proceedings over the rent, and was concerned Mr O’Regan could get into further difficulties “if things did not happen soon”.

After Mr O’Regan gave evidence to the court on Thursday and was cross-examined by Rossa Fanning, for the receiver, Mr Justice McGovern suggested Mr O’Regan consider his position.

He had earlier remarked that Mr O’Regan was trying to project himself as “some sort of ignorant simpleton” when he could not be given the business empire he had run.

After the court proceedings yesterday, Mr O’Regan shook hands with Mr Ferris before leaving the court with his family.

He said he was “upset” but did not wish to comment further.

In his evidence to the court, Mr O’Regan had said he almost suffered a mental breakdown last year when Mr Ferris was appointed receiver over his business empire, and was now living on €3,000 a month from the Morrison Hotel. His wife was also working, the court heard.

When Anglo appointed the receiver “everything else came down”, including a project to build a hotel in Kilternan, Co Dublin, for which he received a €180 million loan from Irish Nationwide just last year.

The Morrison Hotel is owned by Mr O’Regan, developer Patrick Kelly and Patrick Dunning and was operated by MHL.

The MHL directors are Mr O’Regan, Martin Conroy and Dolores Barry.