‘Golfgate’ Clifden hotel records small loss

The operator of the Clifden Station House Hotel in west Galway, which hosted the controversial "Golfgate" dinner, returned a loss of €1,571 last year. Western Railway Operations Ltd had recorded a pre-tax loss of €145,510 in the previous year.

The hotel hosted the Oireachtas Golf Society event on August 19th, 2020. The hotel business also includes self-catering apartments, an indoor swimming pool, a spa and a 220-seat theatre.

Numbers employed by the business fell last year from 38 to 27.

Two directors of the firm – hotel owner John Sweeney and his son and general manager James Sweeney – are two of the defendants in an alleged Covid regulations breach prosecution concerning the Golfgate dinner.

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The two are contesting the criminal prosecution, and the case at Galway District Court is scheduled to resume later this week.

In a reference to the Covid-19 impact on business a note attached to the accounts – signed off on January 28th – said the directors were of the opinion that the company was adequately resourced to trade through the disruption brought about by Covid-19.

The directors said that Covid-19 had “resulted in serious disruption to the business”.

“It was forced to close as a result of Government-imposed trade restrictions for a significant period in 2020 and 2021, ” the note said.

It added that the tourist industry was not expected to make a reasonable recovery until the first quarter of 2022. “The international market is expected to recover during 2022 and into 2023.”