Tipperary IPAS centre back in spotlight after planning ruling
The decision comes after Tipperary County Council admitted last year that it had wrongly ruled the development was exempt from planning permission
An International Protection Accommodation Service in Tipperary is in the news again after An Coimisiún Pleanála ruled that Dundrum House Hotel requires planning permission to operate as an IPAS centre.
An Coimisiún Pleanála has recently determined that the use of Dundrum House as an IPAS centre is not exempted development.
Dundrum House Hotel was initially used to accommodate people who had fled the war in Ukraine before later becoming an IPAS centre for people seeking international protection.
The decision comes after a long legal battle that began after Tipperary County Council ruled the use of the former hotel was exempt from planning permission when it was changed into an IPAS centre.
That decision to allow this exception was challenged in the High Court last summer after the Dundrum Heritage Group asked for a judicial review to take place. The council ultimately accepted it had made an error in issuing the exemption.
The High Court quashed the council's decision and referred the matter to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Following its review, the planning authority has now concluded that the change in use of Dundrum House from a hotel and tourism facility to an International Protection Accommodation Service is a material change of use that requires planning permission.
The report found that the current use is significantly different from the hotel's approved use and cannot be regarded as ordinary hotel accommodation, which is what planning permission was originally granted for.
The owners of the site will now have to seek planning permission to regularise the current use of the property if they wish to continue operating Dundrum House as an IPAS centre.