LAST UPDATE | 1 Aug

MINISTER FOR INTEGRATION Roderic O’Gorman has confirmed that the government will proceed with plans to house international protection applicants in Coolock in Dublin and Dundrum in Tipperary. This is despite protests at the suggested sites in recent weeks.

“My department needs to provide accommodation for international protection applicants. We have individuals and families arriving on a daily basis, and we have a statuatory duty to make provisions for them and to provide them with accommodation,” he said on Morning Ireland.

The suggested site in Coolock, the old Crown Paints factory on the Malahide Road, was the target of sustained protests and violence last month, with the Garda Public Order Unit being deployed, and multiple fires being set at the site.

In Dundrum, a residents’ group has a lodged a High Court challenge to the proposed use of an old hotel in the west Tipperary town to house applicants. A protest has been continuing outside the hotel since May.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, following consultation with Coolock residents, said that more centres for international protection applicants should be placed in “better off” areas. She said that more “deprived” areas are being disproportionately used.

However, Minister O’Gorman said that this is not the case.

“We have international protection accomodation in working-class areas, and we have it in middle-class areas as well. We have accommodation all over the country at this stage,” he said.

He also rejected accusations that there was a bias against rural areas, saying that the majority of centres are in “the Dublin area”.

He acknowledged that criticism that his department haven’t engaged in community engagement in some areas, but that the majority of centres have been opened without issue.

“Over the last year we have opened a significant amount of international protection accommodation where there hasn’t been controversy, and our community engagement team have worked with local political representatives and community leaders where we’ve been able to bring in solutions to the service issues that have been raised,” he said.

He also criticised the “disinformation and misinformation” that sprang up during the protests in Coolock, which he said was the result of “bad faith actors”.

Injunction

Last night an attempt to block the proposal at the High Court fell through when it rejected an injunction to stop the housing of asylum seekers at Dundrum House.

Dundrum residents had lodged 230 affidavits with the High Court complaining about the housing of asylum seekers at the hotel.

The Irish Examiner reported Justice David Holland summarising that the application by residents said that International Protection Applicants were “more likely to be burglars than those staying as guests at the hotel or Ukrainian refugees” staying there.

The judge said he would “lend no weight to that assertion” and rejected the injunction.

Local independent councillor John O’Heney said there were “many strong views” among the community about immigration.

He had signed a number of the affidavits in his role as a peace commissioner but said he was basing his opposition to the continued use of the hotel on the grounds of “amenities and services” for the area.

He said that while the hotel had not traded in recent years, many in the community want to see it returned to use.

While the hotel’s bedrooms have remained allocated for refugees since the war in Ukraine, its golf course has remained open.

“There was always a spin-off in the village when you’d have weddings and functions in there,” O’Heney said.

“I do understand the government’s position as well. They’re trying to house people around the country and it’s not simple.”

O’Heney added that Dundrum was a “vibrant” village with a local manufacturer employing upwards of 70 people alongside smaller businesses including barbers and butchers.

With reporting by Eoghan Dalton