Councillors urge State to hold off signing Dundrum House IPAS contract due to legal actions

Councillors representing communities in west Tipperary have urged the Government to hold off on signing an accommodation centre contract for asylum seekers with the operator of Dundrum House Hotel while High Court cases involving the property are before the courts.

The appeals were issued at Tipperary County Council’s monthly meeting in Nenagh and directed to Eibhlin Byrne, National Lead on Civic Engagement with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, who informed councillors the Department is ready to sign an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) contract with Dundrum House.

Ms Byrne gave a presentation at the meeting on the work of the Community Engagement Team set up to “assist the flow of information” to local communities about international protection applicants arriving to their areas and the process of procuring and approving accommodation centres for them.

After the presentation, Cappawhite Fine Gael Cllr Mary Hanna Hourigan told Ms Byrne that Dundrum House was at the centre of two High Court actions.

One case is a judicial review of a Section 5 Declaration granted for the property that confirms planning approval is not required for a change of  use for accommodating  people seeking protection in Ireland.

The other case concerns a dispute over the property’s ownership.

Cllr Hourigan called on the State not to sign any IPAS contract for Dundrum House while these cases were ongoing. “The department must respect the legal process,” she said.

Ms Byrne replied that the appraisal stage of the Dundrum House IPAS application assessment and approval process has been completed and the process has now reached the contract signing stage.

She said the Government will always take cognisance of any legal decision that is made.

In relation to the property’s ownership, she said the Department would have received documents which indicated legal ownership. If this was challenged and otherwise found, the Government would take cognisance of that, Ms Byrne added.

Cllr Hourigan’s call was supported by other councillors from across Tipperary Cahir Cashel Municipal District.

Sinn Féin Cllr Annemarie Ryan from Tipperary Town said she wanted to concur with Cllr Hourigan. She argued it would be more prudent to pause the process and await the outcome of the legal proceedings before moving forward.

The District’s Cathaoirleach Cllr John Crosse from Donohill asked Ms Byrne to give a commitment to facilitate a meeting between her department’s officials, local councillors and some residents before any contract is signed in relation to Dundrum House.

The Fine Gael councillor called for a more “open and transparent” approach to the local community and highlighted the challenges this posed for local schools and GP practices.

“If we can't stop the signing of the contract, we should have an open discussion about how long it’s for and the services to be put in place,” he said.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Roger Kennedy said Ms Byrne went through the five stages of an IPAS accommodation contract assessment in her presentation to the Council stage.

He noted the inspection stage followed the appraisal stage but Ms Byrne didn’t mention whether an inspection of the property has happened or not in her reply to Cllr Hourigan.

He said a lot of information had been furnished to her Department in relation to the condition of Dundrum House.

The Cashel councillor said it was “very disconcerting” to hear the Department was almost at the contract signing stage in view of the High Court proceedings involving the property.

He argued it would not be a good or proper way to do business or a good utilisation of public funds to sign this contract before their outcome.

Cllr Kennedy also told Ms Byrne there was a “major deficit” of supports and services in place for the people living in Dundrum area.

Independent councillors Liam Browne from Cashel Máirín McGrath from Newcastle and Fianna Fáil Cllr Micheál Anglim also spoke at the meeting in support of Cllr Hourigan’s call to the Department not to sign the Dundrum House IPAS centre contract in view of the legal actions before the courts.

Ms Byrne said she would bring back councillors views to the team at the Department. She noted it was not her decision to make.

READ NEXT: Council is proposing to close road in rural Tipperary community for nearly three months