THE FUTURE OF the State’s plans to house up to 1,000 men at an International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) centre in Athlone remains uncertain after a High Court decision in the case was once again pushed back.

The centre in question, called the Midlands Accommodation Centre, is located in an area called Lissywollen to the north of the town. Since October, a number of protests have taken place around the facility.

The plan was challenged by local Independent Ireland councillor Paul Hogan, who claimed the site is unsuitable to house 1,000 people as planned. Late last year, lawyers for the State conceded the challenge as well as legal costs.

There were around 180 residents on site but Judge Richard Humphreys previously granted a request that no further works to expand the site can take place, except for “urgent” maintenance works.

A final decision on the future of the site remains up in the air.

Hogan is taking the case against the Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, under whose remit international protection currently falls.

Hogan’s legal team said they received correspondence from the minister last Thursday related to the case, followed by an affidavit from the minister on Friday evening.

The minister is seeking a stay on any order of the court – which would prevent it coming into effect for six months – the court heard.

Hogan’s counsel said they would need extra time to reply to the minister’s affidavit, adding that the case requires “urgent rectification and conclusion”.

Aoife Carroll, senior counsel for the State, apologised for the “lateness” of the affidavit on Friday.

No hearing date yet

Judge Richard Humphreys said, given the latest development, it would be “premature” to set a hearing date in the case.

“I don’t want to have this argument every week,” he said regarding the latest delay.

Justice Humphreys listed the case for mention on 24 March, in order to give both sides time to submit relevant statements.

Last month, he pushed back a decision on the site’s future for a second time due to the fact that responsibility for international protection is moving from the Department of Children and Integration back to the Department of Justice.

On 27 January, the judge was told that officials responsible for the international protection system within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability and Youth are being moved to another department.

It will become part of the new Department of Justice. This changeover had resulted in a delay to the State formulating its position on the Athlone site, the court heard last month.

Protests and fundraiser

Independent Ireland councillor Hogan – who stood in the general election in Longford-Westmeath – claimed the ministerial process providing for the plan was unlawful, irrational and a breach of fair procedures.

Hogan’s legal submission relied on similar grounds to one brought recently 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 to be housed on a State-owned site near Dublin Airport.

Hogan had 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.

Hogan took the challenge after an online fundraising campaign which amassed over €50,000 in donations.

According to the fundraiser, 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, Aengus O’Rourke of Fianna Fáil and John Dolan of Fine Gael.

Over 3,000 people without accommodation

The Department for Children and Integration had appeared hopeful that it could continue to use the Athlone site to alleviate the shortage in accommodation. In a statement late last year, it said that while it “does not intend to defend the planning issues, other matters remain under discussion” concerning the use of the site.

In a statement provided to The Journal on Friday, a spokesperson for the department said: “We continue to work hard to find, develop and open suitable accommodation sites, so that we can offer appropriate and safe accommodation to all people applying for international protection.”

The spokesperson said the State is currently accommodating almost 33,000 people in over 320 Ipas centres around the country, about 9,000 of whom are children with their families.

“However, there continues to be a severe shortage of accommodation and since December 2023, the Department has not had sufficient capacity available to accommodate all people seeking international protection.

“Up to 12 January 2025, 3,371 male applicants remain unaccommodated,” they added.

With reporting by Eoghan Dalton