St Mary’s Centre examinership bid dismissed by High Court

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The High Court dismissed an application to appoint an examiner to St Mary’s Centre (Telford), a south Dublin care facility for vulnerable adults. The proceedings were reported on 28 September 2020.

Lawyers representing some care centre residents and some current and former staff had sought examinership, even for a short period, to see if the company could be saved. They cited an independent expert’s opinion that it could be saved if certain steps were taken, including examinership. The company and its provisional liquidators opposed the application.

Mr Justice Michael Quinn found there was insufficient evidence that the company had a reasonable prospect of survival as a going concern. He declined to appoint an examiner, even for a limited period, saying the information on matters including future funding and long-term survival was too general.

The company had operated a care facility for people who are legally blind and a nursing home beside St Vincent’s Hospital on Merrion Road. The judge noted that all of the nursing home’s more than 50 residents had left, while 18 care centre residents remained.

An application was to be made later that week to confirm provisional liquidators Neil Hughes and Dessie Morrow as official liquidators. The judge noted that the HSE had promised funding during any examinership or liquidation and was discussing a transitional takeover of the care facility with the provisional liquidators, a process that could take up to 18 months to complete.