Oz based tycoon eyes up Slieve Russell Hotel

The latest name to emerge as a potential buyer for the Slieve Russell hotel, golf and country club is a Melbourne-based property group owned by Irishman Tony Brady and his family.

A native of Redhills, whose brother Ollie Brady was Cavan's first All Star, Mr Brady emigrated to Australia as a bricklayer in the 1970s. He worked hard to establish Brady Group into what has become one of the largest private developers in Australia's second-most populous city.

He founded Brady Hotels & Apartments in 2014, and already operates a boutique collection of hotels and apartments across four locations in Melbourne.

It's understood the Brady group sent representatives to assess the hotel after it was first put up for sale back in April with a price tag of €35M.

Current bidding is believed to be below that figure.

Recently, the owner of Limerick's award winning Adare Manor and one of Ireland's wealthiest business men, J.P. McManus, was also rumoured as a possible buyer.

First opened in 1990, the hotel has 224 bedrooms and leisure facilities, and is situated on 300 acres of land. It includes a PGA Championship golf course, a nine-hole par three course and driving range.

The property - once a jewel in the crown of the Quinn family’s hospitality empire - has had around €7.5M invested in it since 2019.

Dublin based CBRE Property Agents is handling the sale on behalf of the liquidators.

With the collapse of the Quinn empire, Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank, assumed control of the Slieve Russell and other company assets in April 2011 following the financial crash in an attempt to recover €2.88 billion allegedly owed by the local family.

A bid backed by Mr Quinn is understood to have been rejected.

In the past month liquidators also appointed selling agents to market the sale of Q City, a Quinn-built international office complex in Hyderabad, India, with an asking of €50M.