Squash Ireland, which operates two health and fitness centres in Dublin, has gone into receivership. The members - numbering about 200 - have been advised by the company that the unused portion of their subscription "will have to await the outcome of the receivership". Individual members pay £325 a year, while husband-and-wife memberships cost £490.
The two centres - in Clontarf and Dartry - are located in the grounds of schools. Members were advised by Squash Ireland in a letter dated December 23rd that the centres were closing because the company had been unable to reach agreement with the Department of Education, its landlord, on the terms of the lease on the Clontarf premises.
Squash Ireland's managing director, Mr David Balbirnie, said in the letter that despite lengthy discussions between the two parties they had not been able to resolve the matter of the lease. As a result, Mr Balbirnie added, they had regretfully called in the Dublin accountancy firm of John Gleeson & Co as receiver.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said yesterday that it had written to Squash Ireland last November about arrears of rent. A 21-year lease was signed when Squash Ireland was set up in 1973. The lease expired on December 27th, 1994. The arrears dated from then.
The Department was advised by the office of the Chief State Solicitor that the situation should be regularised. "We were not being bolshie", the spokesman said. "We were quite open to discussion - and still are."
Labour TD for Dublin North Central Mr Derek McDowell said that he wrote a cheque for £490 on December 12th to cover membership for his wife and himself. The reference in Mr Balbirnie's letter to the unused portion of the subscription now being a matter for the receiver suggested that Squash Ireland was "washing its hands of responsibility".
Ms Sheila Browne said she sent Squash Ireland a cheque for £325 on December 1st. Members were "very angry", she added.
A meeting of members will be held in the Hollybrook Hotel, Clontarf, at 8 p.m. tomorrow. Mr McDowell said that he would be attending.
Neither Mr Balbirnie nor the receiver, Mr Gleeson, could be reached yesterday for comment.