LAST UPDATE | 16 Feb
DROGHEDA-BASED FINE Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd has said Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman made an “arrogant decision” in using the D Hotel to house around 500 asylum seekers.
In a statement to The Journal yesterday, the Department of Integration said the International Protection Procurement Service (IPPS) has responded to an offer of accommodation made in respect of the D Hotel in Drogheda.
The Department spokesperson said “all requirements are in place and a contract has been signed”, and added that the hotel will be brought into use “in the near future” for the accommodation of people applying for international protection.
The Department also said its community engagement team has been engaging with all local representatives.
However, O’Dowd today said O’Gorman “made no attempt to communicate with people and the local authority and voluntary bodies”.
While O’Dowd said Ukrainians and international protection applicants will continue to be “warmly welcomed” in the town, he accused the minister of making an “arrogant decision”.
“I understand the pressure he is under,” said O’Dowd, “but he hasn’t taken into consideration the community.”
O’Dowd told RTÉ’s Today With Claire Byrne that he wants the government to explore the possibility of leaving some rooms for private customers in the hotel.
O’Dowd said that he, Sinn Féin’s Imelda Munster and Labour’s Ged Nash met with O’Gorman to discuss the proposal.
“We asked if there are possibilities of mitigating this decision of leaving some rooms in that hotel available to people who are attending weddings, people who are visiting relatives who come from abroad, businesspeople who want to stay overnight.”
O’Dowd said O’Gorman “couldn’t make any promises” but “would look at” the proposal.
The Fine Gael TD added that he raised the issue in the party’s parliamentary meeting on Wednesday night, and that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar “agreed that a community shouldn’t lose their only hotel”.
Drogheda has other hotels but the D Hotel is its largest, with 113 rooms. The owner, Fairkeep Ltd, bought the property last year and confirmed yesterday the contract with the Department is for two years.
In a statement, the company said the hotel was built 25 years ago and it wants to reinvest the funds from the contract into a renovation.
“The hotel owners are committed to ensuring the longevity of the hotel for the next 25 years,” it added. “The [owners] wish to point out that the function rooms and bar will continue to stay open for the public.”
Today, O’Dowd said that he is trying to get the government to “make a decision that this never happens again, and that it can be mitigated or changed in some way to allow other people to stay in the hotel”.
O’Dowd also said it is “entirely wrong” to put international protection applicants “in the centre of a controversy”.
“There are forces at work locally, to cause confrontation and anger over this, and we’re trying to mitigate this,” said O’Dowd.
“I had to take my phone off the hook, my staff have been abused by a campaign of abuse directed at my office.
“I stress that the new people coming into our town are more than welcome and they make a huge contribution.
“It’s the fact that we’ve lost our hotel which is the source of the anger.”
He said it’s important to “calm the situation down” and called for the government to “renegotiate this deal if it’s possible”.
Earlier today, Drogheda’s deputy mayor said local councillors could “explore some form of injunctive action” over the decision.
Kevin Callan said it’s not known if such action would be successful, but added that “we have to look at all the options at this stage”.
Callan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that local councillors were informed of the decision on Tuesday.
“In terms of consultation, it’s not a consultation if you’re informed contracts have been signed and this is happening in a few weeks’ time,” said Callan.
“That’s not consultation, that is informing people that the decision is made, it’s done, and that is no way to behave when you’re dealing with a town the size of Drogheda that depends on that trade,” he added.
While Callan said Drogheda “welcomes migrants” he added that the “removal of the largest hotel” will put the town in a “terrible financial position”.
Callan said the loss to Drogheda’s general town centre economy will be in the region of €5.4 million and that these figures come from the Drogheda Business Improvement District.
“That is an extremely precise overview of what we are going to lose on an annual basis,” said Callan.
“We want to know what the Minister is going to do to fix that.”
He added that the council will do “everything we can to protect jobs and to protect small and medium sized businesses”.
While Callan told Morning Ireland that there is a “need to house people”, he added: “The town has been put in this really impossible position where the livelihood of a lot of people has now been put in jeopardy based on this decision.
“Nobody wants to have to be in this space at the minute, but we’re going to have to get the Minister to answer as to why this happened.”
Callan said local councillors are now seeking a meeting with Minister O’Gorman and Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd said this meeting must take place.
“We have to have accountability,” O’Dowd told RTÉ.
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