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LAST UPDATE | 19 Dec 2024
THE FUTURE OF the State’s plans to house up to 1,000 men at a recently opened international protection centre in Athlone remains up in the air.
The High Court was set to rule on the site today, but the case has been adjourned until January 27 next month.
Lawyers for the State had previously conceded a challenge brought by Athlone county councillor Paul Hogan who claimed it was unsuitable to house 1,000 people, with the case and future of the site to be finalised today.
In a statement this evening, the Department of Integration – which oversees the site and broader asylum system – said it will continue to provide accommodation for 185 people seeking international protection at the site at the Midlands Accommodation Centre “while the legal matters are in progress”.
It added that works on the site will “pause from tomorrow” and the Department will “not increase” the number of people accommodated at the site.
In a statement released today, Hogan and other local councillors – the Mayor of Athlone Frankie Keena, Aonghus O’Rourke and John Dolan – who took the action said they hope the court will hear of “substantive” environmental and planning issues in relation to the site when it resumes.
If the court eventually rules against any further use of the site and the dismantling of the facility, it will create even further pressure on the new government to source accommodation for people entering the country.
On Monday, the High Court heard that the case was being conceded by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability and Youth and that “the development will be classified as an unauthorised development”.
However, the Department for Children, Equality, Disability and Youth appears hopeful that it can continue to use the Athlone site. In a statement earlier this week, it said that while it “does not intend to defend the planning issues, other matters remain under discussion” around the use of the accommodation.
The first group of 92 people seeking international protection arrived at the centre earlier this month and their continued residence at the site in army-style tents will likely be decided by the court by way of its decision. These men had been moved from sites in Co Wicklow which had themselves come in for criticism from local support groups over the quality of the accommodation.
It had been proposed that the tents would eventually be replaced with modular units.
The department said that sourcing accommodation for people seeking international protection has become “ever more urgent” due to the acute shortage of space and increasing numbers of applications.
“Despite expanding our system by over 20,000 beds in the last 2 years, nearly 3,000 international protection applicants have not been offered accommodation during 2024,” the department said.
The department has declined to comment further while the issue remains before the court.
At the High Court on Monday, Oisin Collins SC with David O’Brien BL, instructed by solicitors PB Cunningham & Co, for Hogan, told Judge Richard Humphreys that “the case is being conceded” by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability and Youth and that “the development will be classified as an unauthorised development”.
In his challenge, Hogan, who secured 4.8% first preference votes running for Independent Ireland in Longford-Westmeath in the recent General Election, claimed the ministerial process providing for the plan was unlawful, irrational and a breach of fair procedures.
Hogan’s legal papers relied on similar grounds to one recently brought by a north Dublin group that secured a strike-down of a statutory instrument that had paved the way for 1,000 international protection applicants on a State-owned site near Dublin Airport.
Minister for Integration Roderick O’Gorman contested Hogan’s case.
Hogan wanted an order either pausing or quashing the statutory instrument the Minister made for the Athlone site.
The instrument confirmed the project did not need An Bord Pleanála approval and noted the Minister was satisfied two specific environmental assessments under EU law did not need to be conducted before proceeding with the plan.
Hogan claimed the Minister failed to adequately screen the project for potential environmental impacts and that he lacks the expertise to carry out such assessments. There were also deficiencies in the assessment of wastewater requirements and effect on traffic, Hogan claimed.
He claimed the occupants would be free to move about and will “inevitably cause a significant traffic hazard and a health and safety issue” next to the site and along the road.
He submitted that Athlone has a long tradition of providing accommodation and support to people seeking international protection, with one of the first direct provision centres in the State constructed on the adjoining Lissywollen site in 2001.
Hogan took the challenge after an online fundraising campaign which amassed over €50k in donations.
According to the fundraising site, the challenge was being brought on behalf of Hogan and four other Athlone-based representatives, including freshly re-elected Independent TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran and councillors Frankie Keena and Aengus O’Rourke of Fianna Fáil and John Dolan of Fine Gael.
The State had planned to accommodate up to 1,000 men seeking international protection on the site, but the recent legal challenge has thrown that into uncertainty.
Since October, protests have taken place around the new International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) facility called Midlands Accommodation Centre.
It’s located on the northern outskirts of Athlone in an area called Lissywollen.
With reporting by Paul Neilan at the High Court.
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