Staff at Dundrum House Hotel Golf Club, Bar and Restaurant and Leisure Centre have been told that they cannot be on site until Garda vetting has been completed. Staff were informed yesterday afternoon that the entire complex is deemed to be an IPAS centre and that Garda vetting is necessary. Golfers can use the course but it will not be receiving daily maintenance until the staff are back on duty. Efforts are being made to expedite the vetting process. IPAS management had to request vetted staff from other locations in the county to attend the site yesterday to provide meals to the residents.
The Leisure Centre is also impacted and has posted that it hopes to resume service next week and that any membership time missed will be credited to the person’s account. Local Independent councillor Liam Browne has posted that development is an “absolutely shocking indictment of the Department of Integration”. The Councillor adds that “to sign contracts, and move children without checking for adequate Garda vetting requirements is just another example of the ham-fisted actions involved in this from beginning to where we are now.” It is understood that the IPAS Accommodation centre does not have a specific contract in place but that the contract between the Department and the facility in respect of Ukrainian Refugees is covering the new arrivals on a temporary basis.
Tipperary TD Michael Lowry says the “long running saga is now an absurd situation” where assurances given have not been delivered. Deputy Lowry says IPAS have blundered badly and not implemented their own rules in what he terms “incompetence regarding vetting”.
The TD says it is a “bolt out of blue that the entire grounds including the golf club is under the remit of IPAS where every worker is subject to vetting”. The TD says this is already causing disruption and financial loss.
Deputy Lowry concludes by saying this underlines the unsuitability of Dundrum House Hotel as a site for a long term IPAS centre.
