A hotel manager has stepped in to rescue the debs balls of nearly 2,500 Leaving Certificate students in Cork after a planner reportedly made off with over €195,000 in fees collected for the graduation nights.
Gardaí are investigating allegations made against Pat Browne from Upper Glanmire in Cork city after complaints were made that deposits paid to him were not passed on to the hired venue before the deadline date.
Mr Browne was involved in the organisation of photographs and bus hire for students' debs nights and also made arrangements with the venues involved. He is reported to have charged between €150 and €200 for two debs tickets and to have collected deposits of up to €100 from the students concerned.
Eoin Daly, general manager of the Silversprings Moran Hotel in Cork city, said it had decided to subsidise the event for students who had been left out of pocket by charging them the cost price of €80 for their debs night.
Mr Daly said alarm bells went off when parents started to call the hotel about a fortnight ago expressing concerns about Mr Browne "disappearing off the face of the planet".
Mr Daly said he became extremely concerned about the matter and attempted to contact Mr Browne, who had been due to pay a deposit to the hotel on July 20th. He was unable to establish phone contact with Mr Browne, but he did eventually reach him and the debs planner told him he would post a cheque. However, this never arrived, Mr Daly said.
Gardaí in Cork began an investigation into the matter last Thursday. Students who have experienced difficulties with Mr Browne were yesterday being asked to contact Anglesea Street station to make formal complaints.
Mr Daly said in the case of the Silversprings hotel alone there were 2,486 students involved, and Mr Browne had admitted to receiving €195,000 in fees from them. One of the students affected, Sarah Louise Healy from Blarney, who was organising the debs ball for students at Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, said she was disappointed at being let down by Mr Browne.
When she contacted a hotel in Cork city last year she was told that debs were organised via the planner. Students from Blarney paid out in the region of €7,200 to Mr Browne for their debs ball which is due to take place on September 5th.
Sarah Louise's mother became suspicious of Mr Browne when he started demanding additional money for hotel security and contacted the Silversprings Moran Hotel. The 18-year-old student said she was relieved that gardaí had become involved but admitted to being disheartened by the problems of the last few months.
"I tried to text him [ Pat Browne] and call him and he didn't return any of my calls. He changed phone three times. When he was confronted he basically told us he had spent the money paying off last years debs debts."
Mr Browne could not be contacted yesterday.