Two prominent businessmen from County Meath are to square up to each other in the High
Court in a dispute over alleged payments on a prominent restaurant in Dublin City.
Eamon Waters of Balrath Navan, who sold his Beauparc Facilities operation
incorporating Panda Waste, for €1.4 billion, has launched a case against the Mercantile
Group over a charge it asserts on a premises that contains the Fade Street Social restaurant
run by celebrity chef Dylan McGrath.

Defa Properties, the building that contains the restaurant, was recently purchased by Waters
for €6.8 million.
EMI-MR Investments Ltd which is controlled by Kells native Michael Breslin and his
business partner, Michael Regan, says it gave a loan to Defa of €500,000 during the Covid
Pandemic and by the time of the sale to Waters, was owed more than €750,000 with interest.

The Business Post is reporting that EMI-MR says it is owed more than €300,000 in legal
costs which include fees incurred as part of an ongoing challenge to a re-structuring plan
approved for a separate Dylan McGrath company.
The Paper is reporting that a sum of €800,000 was paid by Defa to EMI-MR however
€300,000 is understood to be still outstanding for legal fees.
The High Court action which was filed last week, seeks a release of the EMI charge as well
as damages.

The action has yet to be given a hearing date.
Eamon Waters sold his Panda Waste operation to Australian Company, Macquarie
Infrastructure Fund, for €1.4 billion in 2021. It’s understood that Waters pocketed close on a
third of the sale price.

He has since invested in a number of prominent Irish business operations.
According to the Irish Independent, a private equity company controlled by Waters now owns
ten per cent of the FBD insurance Group.

He owns the Royal Hibernian Way which links Dawson st with Grafton st, the Grafton Hotel
and has also invested a €40 million stake in Permanent TSB.
He recently secured planning permission to construct a 136-bed four-star hotel on Ship st. at
the rear of Dublin Castle and has a shareholding in the Dalata Hotel Chain which runs the
Maldron and Clayton Group.

Former Kells resident Michael Breslin is a prominent shareholder in the Mercantile Group. It
owns the highly profitable Café en Seine, The George and Whelan’s Pubs in Dublin.
The Breslin Family spent the best part of 30 years in New York where they ran a number of
popular bars.

The Family also invested in the highly successful Atlantic Scaffolding company which
became one of the leading providers of scaffold in New York City.
It was recently sold to the Safway Group where Michael Breslin remains a member of the
Board.
Michael’s brother John, is the owner of The Railway Bar in Navan.