Profits rise to €11.3m at Red Cow Moran Hotel after contract to accommodate asylum seekers

Gordon Deegan

Pre-tax profits at one of the largest providers of accommodation for International Protection (IP) applicants, the Red Cow Moran Hotel, almost doubled to €11.32 million in 2023.

Guestford Ltd operates Red Cow Moran Hotel on the Naas Rd on the western outskirts of Dublin, and new accounts show that pre-tax profits increased by 84 per cent to €11.32 million in 2023 as revenues surged by 54 per cent or €11.45 million from €21.21 million to €32.66 million on the back of the hotel's IP business.

Figures published by the Department of Integration show that in the year under review, Guestford Ltd received the third highest of the accommodation providers to IP applicants receiving €26.5 million.

The firm has continued to prosper from its State contract to house IP applicants and in 2024 was paid €35 million.

Figures for the 12 months of 2025 are not yet available but for the first three quarters of 2025, Guestford Ltd received €25.3 million from the State to accommodate IP applicants.

A notice on the hotel website states today “we are currently privately booked, during this time we will not be taking new guest reservations. We apologise for any inconvenience and look forward to welcoming you back again soon”.

The revenues generated by the hotel from its State contract for accommodating IP applicants are more than double the 2019 revenues of €14.32 million when the four-star hotel generated its income from paying hotel guests.

The hotel, which opened in 1996, is owned and operated by the Moran family and has 320 bedrooms.

Four members of the Moran family are registered as directors of Guestford Ltd – Karen Moran, Thomas Moran jnr, Michael Moran and Tracey Moran.

Businessman Tom Moran, who purchased the site on the Naas Road in the late 1980s and set up the hotel, held on to it in 2014 when selling off his nine Moran Bewley’s hotels to Dalata for €445 million. Mr Moran died in the year under review in March 2023 following an illness.

The accounts show that operating profits for 2023 increased by 69 per cent from €7.93 million to €13.43 million and interest payments of €2.1 million reduced profits to a pre-tax profit of €11.32 million.

The company recorded a post tax profit of €9.68 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.64 million.

Numbers employed increased by 57 during 2023 from 175 to 232 as staff costs increased from €3.9 million to €4.8 million.

Directors’ pay rose from €428,900 to €482,225.

At the end of December 2023, the company’s shareholder funds totalled €35.66 million that included accumulated profits of €19.9 million.

The company’s cash funds more than doubled from €3 million to €7.16 million.