Avoca owner and direct provision operator Aramark received €10.5m in Covid supports in 2023

Aramark, the company that owns Avoca and operates a controversial direct provision centre in Clare, continued to lose money last year despite receiving in excess of €10 million in Covid-related Government reports.
Consolidated accounts filed recently for Aramark Ireland Holdings, a holding company in the US food services and facilities management outfit’s Irish group, show revenues at the Campbell Catering owner jumped by 18 per cent last year to €314 million.
But the group sunk to another operating loss in 2023 with administrative costs rising by 7 per cent to almost €110.4 million amid an increase in staff numbers.
After-tax losses at the group, which employed some 4,889 people in 2023, narrowed from more than €11 million in 2022 to €7.4 million last year. This was largely due to a sharp uptick in restructuring and redundancy costs, climbing from €1.6 million to nearly €5.9 million in the year.
Government subsidies, however, put a gloss on Aramark’s bottom line with the group receiving almost €10.6 million in 2023 from the State in respect of “various forms of subsidised wage schemes, to provide relief for entities during the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to the accounts.
In a report attached to the accounts, Aramark Ireland’s directors said the company “continues to focus on driving growth and promoting efficiencies across the portfolio”.
They said the group’s “revenue performance and indeed the reduction in the reported loss reflect both the organisation’s strategy to drive growth in profitability and win new business”.
Meanwhile, the direct provision operator, which runs three centres for international protection applicants, saw turnover in its property management business increase by 14 per cent in the year to €11.8 million while facilities management revenues increase by around 9 per cent to more than €64.1 million.
Aramark’s operations at the Knockalisheen direct provision centre on the outskirts of Limerick City were the subject of a critical Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report earlier this year after inspectors visited the site in early January. They found “significant deficits” in standards and noted the housing was “unsuitable” with “underdeveloped governance and oversight”.
Garda vetting was not in place for a number of staff and international police checks had not been carried out on others who had lived abroad, rendering recruitment practices at the centre “not sufficiently safe or effective”, inspectors said. Eleven staff members had not undergone mandatory Children First training, the report noted.
Aramark said at the time it had submitted a compliance plan and would implement the necessary changes by the end of the year.
The group also operates restaurants in hospitals and college campuses – where it is the subject of a Union of Students in Ireland boycott over its role in the direct provision system – as well as the cafe in the National Gallery of Ireland. Its role in the latter became national news in 2022 when staff at the gallery wrote to the board expressing discontent over the award of the contract to Aramark.
Aramark Ireland has been approached for comment.