It was Gavin Daly who first introduced me to the ‘Jesus Christ’ Hotel.

I had stayed at the Slieve Russell Hotel in Co Cavan several times over the years. But, as we began work on a book chronicling the rise and fall of the industrialist Sean Quinn, it fell to Daly, a native of the county, to tell me about its local nickname. 

It made sense, of course. The reaction of most people who came round the bend at Cranaghan, Ballyconnell to see a vast white hotel sitting behind an ornate foundation and surrounded by acres of manicured lawns was the same: ‘Jesus Christ’.

The hotel was indelibly linked with Quinn. This was not merely an investment play, although, like most things Quinn backed, he anticipated a financial return. It was highly personal, with Quinn overseeing much of its development himself. It was, in a sense, a physical manifestation of his own grandiose ambition and of his unfettered loyalty to his locality.

The unemployment rate in Ireland in 1991 was 15.1 per cent, and Cavan was an economic blackspot. The border between Co Cavan and Co Fermanagh was manned by British armed soldiers. Yet, that year, Quinn opened his sparkling new hotel just a few miles from the border and a few hundred yards from where he lived. 

Sceptics viewed it as a white elephant. Yet, the hotel thrived and expanded. Sean Quinn had built it, and they came. Over time, it expanded to 230 bedrooms, a PGA Championship golf course, a nine-hole par three course and driving range, a helicopter hangar, a spa, and a function room that could hold 1,200 people. 

During construction, a megalithic wedge tomb dating back 4,000 years, known locally as the Giant’s Grave, was relocated to the 300-acre estate from nearby Slieve Rushen with government and architectural supervision.

Quinn was a regular presence at the hotel. He dined in the Kells Bar, conducted business in its meeting rooms, and routinely walked its golf course (his children had picked stones from the fields of the course during its construction phase).

Quinn built and bought businesses all over the world. Yet, he took particular pride in the success of the Russell.

It was at the hotel, in 2007, that he gave a speech at an event organised by the local enterprise board. Quinn’s public profile had fallen as his wealth increased, and at that time, Forbes ranked his wealth at $4.5 billion. But when he opted to speak, he did it within the confines of his own hotel. 

“I’m not overly shy but I much prefer to just sit back and enjoy what I’m doing, my two dogs, the Wellingtons on, dodge about the mountains, and that’s the way I enjoy doing it,” he told the event.

Quinn’s daughter Brenda, the youngest of his five children, was the named owner of the hotel, and his eldest, Colette, was its boss. When another daughter Ciara got married that year, it was held at the Slieve Russell. It would later emerge that the wedding was paid for by the Quinn Group. The cake, flown in from New York, cost €100,000.

The startling cost of the cake emerged after Quinn had lost control of his empire, including the hotel, as receivers and bankers picked their way through Quinn’s businesses.

Indeed, on April 14, 2011, the day Anglo Irish Bank appointed share receivers over the wider Quinn Group, the accountant Kieran Wallace had to make an official trip to the hotel to serve a demand on Quinn Finance Holdings Limited and Slieve Russell Hotel Limited, the companies behind the hotel and the family’s €500 million international property group. 

Quinn’s daughter Colette and Kevin Lunney, who at the time was one of Quinn’s top lieutenants, were removed from their board positions at the hotel. They were replaced by Pat McCann, the hotelier who would later float Dalata on the stock market, Paul McGowan, a KPMG tax partner, and accountant Richard George.

Even after its receivership, Quinn remained a regular presence at the hotel and on its grounds. 

Given the personal connection, and Quinn’s physical proximity to the Slieve Russell, a decision to sell the hotel would have been controversial. A sale could have also attracted the ire of staunch Quinn loyalists who conducted a campaign of intimidation and sabotage on individuals and assets who sought to buy former Quinn businesses, a campaign Quinn has publicly condemned. 

So, as the share receivers, Kieran Wallace and his colleague Eamonn Richardson, gradually began to sell off Quinn’s old empire, the Slieve Russell remained conspicuously off the market. 

Over the years, reports emerged that Quinn was looking to acquire the property himself or in collaboration with local businessmen. 

At Quinn’s request, the former billionaire met McCann in 2017 to discuss the possibility of acquiring the hotel. It came to nothing. 

Earlier this year, the receivers put the property on the market. Many groups and individuals were reported to be in the mix – from the billionaire gambler JP McManus to a consortium headed by the local businessman Sean Gallagher. 

Ultimately, it was a local who acquired the hotel, but it was neither Quinn nor Gallagher. 

Australian-based developer Tony Brady, who is originally from Cavan, is paying in the region of €35 million for the hotel.

Like Quinn, Brady is self-made. Unlike Quinn, he left the borderlands to make his fortune, emigrating to Australia in 1973, after qualifying as a bricklayer. In a 2010 interview with the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Brady said: “There was a lot more opportunity over here than there ever would be back there in Ireland.”

Having worked on sites for others, he set up on his own in Melbourne in the 1980s. His first solo project was a factory on land in the suburbs. 

His company’s website lists 20 large-scale developments including 380 Melbourne, a 739-apartment scheme of two skyscrapers. Many of his family still live in Cavan and he has some property interests in Ireland.

It is not clear if he sought, or required, Quinn’s blessing to proceed with the sale. 

But no doubt he will come into contact with Quinn, whose expansive mansion is nearby.

The development of the hotel was almost unfathomable at the time when Quinn conceived, and then built, the Slieve Russell. It was beyond ambitious; a five-star hotel in the middle of nowhere. 

Yet, it thrived. And even when Quinn’s empire crumbled, the hotel continued to trade, albeit under new management.

CBRE estimates that the value of hotel sales in Ireland this year will breach the €1 billion market, a figure not seen since the days of the Celtic Tiger, when the market was devastatingly distorted by cheap debt and expensive property plays.

The Shelbourne Hotel has been sold. So too the Mount Juliet estate.

Yet, the sale of the Slieve Russell is more than just a property deal. It was, in essence, the last remaining asset of the old Quinn kingdom. Its sale marks the end of one era and the beginning of another.

Elsewhere last week…

Trade deals might seem like a dry topic. But last week, over three parts, Jonathan looked at the deals through the eyes of the companies using them. It made for a fascinating, real-world, series.

Jonathan examined how Irish firms are operating – good and bad – within some of the EU’s most recent free trade agreements. First up was the EU-New Zealand deal, which took effect in May.

In part two, he looked at the EU-Vietnam FTA, the tensions that continue to exist in fishing between the economies and the Irish firms hoping to export beef to the market.

In the final instalment, he analysed the 2019 deal with Japan, the Irish companies doing business there, and how it may very well be the last deal of its kind that the EU can strike for some time.

In her first major interview since becoming group managing director of The Irish Times Group, Deirdre Veldon talked to Alice about the group’s acquisition strategy, prioritising digital subscriptions and enticing readers to pay for content.

Eavan Saunders cut her legal teeth advising on M&A and private equity in London. Now she wants to bring Dentons to a team of 100 in Ireland. She talked to Tom.

After raising $12.7 million, Sceal Ventures Fund I backed some of the world’s most exciting tech start-ups. It put 40 per cent of its funds into tech supply chain firm PCH. The €5.7 million investment in PCH was written down to zero in 2023, but Sceal says PCH remains “high potential”. Tom had the story.

Grant Thornton Ireland’s advisory and tax business is being acquired by its PE-backed US counterpart. The deal follows months of behind-the-scenes negotiations and comes after the firm examined several other options with Deutsche Bank. I had the inside story last week.