Gallagher lives to fight another day

Irish chef Conrad Gallagher has a judge to thank for the fact that his Michelin-starred Peacock Alley restaurant in Dublin is still open.

In the High Court in Dublin last week, the Irish Revenue Commissioners applied for the winding up of Etonstar, the company that runs the 90-seat restaurant, on the grounds it had failed to meet tax liabilities totalling more than IR£70,000 (£55,465).

The court heard that no returns had been filed since late last year. But Justice Joseph Finnegan said he was prepared to give Gallagher another chance to save his company.

He said he had been told that Gallagher, who opened a restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue in London in July, would hand a bank draft for IR£32,500 (£25,755) into court, representing just under half the outstanding tax bill.

In addition Gallagher, managing director and chief shareholder of Etonstar, promised to provide four post-dated cheques for IR£10,000 (£7,924) each, to be cashed weekly by the revenue commissioners.

The judge warned he was adjourning the application on the assumption the cheques would be cashed. He also ordered that accounts of Gallagher's company be lodged with the tax authorities by 1 October.

Counsel for the commissioners, Aoife Goodman, said a winding-up petition had been presented to the court in July, and adjourned. She added that Gallagher had subsequently handed over a series of cheques, all of which had been dishonoured.

In an affidavit read to the court, Gallagher claimed the problem with the cheques had arisen because the tax authorities had attempted to cash them all at the same time.

by Anthony Garvey