High Court Appoints Provisional Liquidators to 13 Torca Homes Companies

The High Court has appointed Nicholas O’Dwyer and John Boland of Grant Thornton as provisional liquidators to 13 insolvent construction companies within the Torca Homes group. Twenty individual companies in the group, founded in 2012 by brothers Phelim and Oisín O’Connor, with Helen Scully as a third director for some, are insolvent. The remaining seven companies are proposed to enter voluntary liquidation.

The group faced difficulties including a €15 million performance bond requirement, pandemic impacts forcing sales at break-even, and the liquidation of main contractor Blacklough Construction in 2023, alongside two others. Defects in ongoing projects and a misbuilt construction in Carrickmines further contributed to losses. Despite negotiating price uplifts with Respond and cost reductions, liquidation was deemed necessary to preserve creditor value and secure assets.