Turvey Golf Club in Donabate, the site of which was bought out of receivership by one of NI’s biggest companies, is to be used to provide homeless families with emergency accommodation under the remit of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), a Dublin City Council spokesman confirmed on the DRHE’s behalf.
“The proposal for this service was received through the DRHE tender process for emergency accommodation,” said the statement. The DRHE leads homeless services on behalf of the Dublin local authorities.
Tizbur Ltd, a private firm which has provided homeless and refugee accommodation elsewhere in the city, and which has leased the Turvey clubhouse from the landowner, has proposed the move.
The 144-acre abandoned parkland course, which went into receivership in 2010, was subsequently bought by a subsidiary of Dromore, Co Tyrone-based Gardrum Holdings called Turvey Manor Limited.
Gardrum Holdings is also the parent company of equipment giant Euro Auctions, which was founded by Derek Keys and other members of his family in Dromore in 1998.
Stock image: Getty
It runs specialist auctions of plant and machinery around the world and has grown to a turnover of more than £150m. In 2022 a £775m mega-deal for the Keys family, that would have seen the auction house sold to a Canadian competitor, was abandoned after it ran into difficulties with the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The land at Turvey is currently zoned for high amenity uses, but this does not preclude the provision of emergency accommodation. In 2016, following the purchase of the site, a planning consultant made a submission to the local planning office to have it rezoned to allow for a 200-bed hotel, a conference and banqueting centre, a leisure centre and self-catering lodges.
That bid was unsuccessful, as was a recent motion by local councillors that “sought to rezone part of the site to residential with a specific objective to allocate 100% of the housing arising….to housing for older persons”.
Fingal County Council issued a memo to local councillors last week to explain that the proposed 36-room and 180-bed facility at Turvey would be used to provide emergency accommodation for “Fingal families”.
“No contracts have been entered into at this time, as a number of items are still being assessed with respect to this proposal, including sewerage connections and transport for future residents,” it said.
“The primary focus for Fingal County Council continues to be on the provision of new social and affordable housing, the implementation of homelessness preventative measures and exiting families from emergency accommodation, and we will continue to work with a wide variety of stakeholders in this regard.”
The latest set of accounts for Turvey Manor Limited to the end of 2023, showed that last year it revalued its assets from €6.9m (£5.8m) to €8.3m (£7m).
The Sunday Independent contacted both Gardrum and Tizbur for comment but neither firm responded.