Extreme Event Ireland Ltd, the owner of the new Irish Whiskey Museum in the centre of Dublin, has agreed a €178,000 tax settlement with the Revenue Commissioners relating to under-declaration of VAT and PAYE/PRSI.

The settlement, published on the Defaulters List on the Revenue’s website, was made up of €116,000 in unpaid tax, €23,000 of interest and a €35,000 penalty.

The majority shareholder in Extreme Event Ireland Ltd is Keith McDonnell, 39, a former IT consultant whose love of hiking prompted him to organise hiking tours and day tours from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher and Giants Causeway. Now his company offers a wide variety of strenuous activity trips and more relaxed tourist tours, both in Ireland and abroad.

The business is profitable, with the operating company Extreme Event Ireland Ltd booking a net profit of €217,000 in 2012, €403,000 in 2013 and €202,000 in 2014.

McDonnell’s tourism enterprises also span Dublin tourism shops on O’Connell Street and Grafton Street, were the whiskey museum is located. The Whiskey Museum, with is 87% owned by Extreme Event Ireland, is located above a tourist centre at the bottom of Grafton Street run by McDonnell.

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In its startup period, Irish Whiskey Museum booked a loss of €252,000 in 2014.

Fáilte Ireland Grant

The museum has a first-floor café and gift shop, leading up to two floors above which are split into five rooms. Each of the rooms is furnished in period style, as the story of Irish whiskey’s inception and development is told, covering all distilleries and spanning several centuries. The final stop is a whiskey-tasting lesson, during which visitors get to imbibe three whiskies.

Fáilte Ireland is enthusiastic about promoting the venue as a quality tourist destination and provided €150,000 in funding to the project under its capital investment programme.