Councillors in the Tipperary Cahir Cashel MD are to meet with personnel from the Department of Integration’s Community Engagement Team on Monday about plans to have an Accommodation Centre for asylum seekers located at Dundrum House Hotel. Members of various organisations in the Dundrum community have also been invited to meet with the Department officials with the meeting to be held in Tipperary town on Monday afternoon.
A public meeting will be held at Dundrum Community Hall on Monday night at 7.30pm to update the wider community on the engagement with the Department. Members of the local community are strongly opposed to the establishment of an IPAS centre at the hotel complex and have held a protest at the Hotel Gate since the plan emerged at the end of May. The local community want the Hotel to be used for Tourism, Social and Recreational purposes and expected this would happen as the flow of refugees from Ukraine reduced. The local community are also concerned about the lack of services such as healthcare, transport and school places to cope with an increase in the local population. The Hotel also has a Golf Club and associated bar and restaurant – it is unclear at present if these facilities would continue to operate if the complex becomes an IPAS Accommodation centre.
Local Councillors are expected to meet with Eibhlin Byrne National Lead on Civic Engagement for an update. A statement from the Department says the facility has a maximum capacity of 277 persons and that there is no intention to increase this figure. The Hotel has a contract with the Department at present to provide accommodation for refugees from Ukraine and the Department says as some of these people choose to move on to alternative accommodation the Department will use some vacancies arising at this location to accommodate people seeking International Protection. There are concerns that the Ukrainians may be asked to leave to allow for all of the complex to be used for asylum seekers only.
The Department statement also says “In the future, the Department may be able to use this location as a dedicated location for people seeking International Protection, this is not currently agreed but a process is underway.” The site is understood to be under appraisal, and has been visited by officials from the Department in recent weeks, and contractual discussions with the Hotel owner are ongoing.
