MR Hamid Butt, His Business associates MS Izabela Bluuszcs, and Sarabjit Singh became the new Owners of the Historic Hearns Hotel Building in Clonmel on the 13th December 2023.
A Pakistani national aged 41, with an address in Millbank house, Kinsale, co cork.
He is also the owner of a number of other properties, including a 3 bed town house at main street Bandon co cork, another 3 bed town house in donaraile cork, he is the majority share holder of a hotel in blackloin co Cavan, and is the lessee of a lodge in Kinsale, Co Cork; and a former hostel in in Lower Glanmire Road, Co Cork.
Mr. Butts Business model is simple, buy or lease a property, and offer it to the state to house IPAs applicants, and once the application to IPAs has been approved, he uses another company usually a company called CRM properties who will handle the management of the property and the IPAs applicants on behalf of the state.
He is currently involved in court proceedings with CRM properties, who have a contract to provide housing to international protection applicants (IPAs) at various properties owned and leased by Mr. Butt.
To date he has received a total of €1.47 million on foot of the IPAs contracts, while CRM properties receive €125,000 per month from the state for the IPAs contract on the 3 properties in Cavan and Cork. The court case centres around Mr Butt becoming irate at a missing payment of €84,000. What is interesting about this court case is that Mr Butt has stated an intention to enter his own contract with the Department for the provision of asylum seeker accommodation, cutting out the middleman (CRM) properties, is this what his intention will be for Hearns hotel?
We can only speculate, but if he is willing to go to court over a sum of €84,000, despite the vast wealth he is accumulating, it would be highly likely. Hearns hotel has 26 bedrooms, it is likely to be fitted with 2 sets of bunk beds, meaning 4 male IPAs applicants per room brining a total of 100 male IPAs applicants.
The current Payment to a property owner / landlord is €550 per head of IPAs applicant per week, Mr Butt will house 87 applicants so he will net €47,850 per week, €194,400 per month. Or €2.29m per annum, Just from Hearns hotel alone, while the IPAs applicants would be paid €38.80 per week once they have their pps numbers.
Mr Butt has a number of other businesses listed to him, ranging from beauty products to a catering company. Some in the UK and most here in Ireland, Most of his business have not been successful, and his catering company last filed accounts in 2019, however it is conceivable that he could restart his catering company should he need to feed his new guests. Meaning another source of state revenue.
Whatever he decides to do, he is on to a very lucrative operation with his newest acquisition in Clonmel with the irish tax payer picking up the tab.
The company records on the CRO show that the nightclub part of the building is also included on the sale, at an estimated price of €5.5m. This poses some questions, such as, does the new owner intend to continue to operate the nighclub? While the hotel operates as an IPAs center? And if so how will this be possible? Given the joint up nature of both of the buildings.
It also poses serious questions for the wider area, where it is located for example, is a busy street for the towns nightlife, with young people moving between bars all thorough the weekend. How will this be policed for safety etc.?
As we have seen in other towns where IPAs applicants have been housed in large numbers, it has brought a lot of trouble and anti-social behaviour, I would point to Killarney as a prime example.
And just like the Heywood road development, we have seen no engagement with the community or local businesses from the council or its elected representatives.
Who will only state they are not involved in the process, that it is a decision solely made by the Department of or Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
Surely the tax paying people of Clonmel and its businesses have a right to know and a say in who it is we all share our local areas and the town with? And if the council cannot guarantee this then I would suggest they are of no real use as a public body.
As a side note I would like to add, why was the sale of a hugely important historic building such as Hearns hotel which is 200 years old, allowed to be sold to an individual who has no ties to the area?
People should be asking questions about this and many other decisions being made.
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