Hundreds attend meeting over Laois IPAS plans

A public meeting which was held in response to plans to convert two pubs into IPAS centres attracted hundreds of people to the Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow on Monday night.

Local Independent Cllr Ollie Clooney said around 300 people turned up for the meeting which was organised after Lennon’s Bar and Peadar’s Bar on Mary Street in Durrow were granted planning approval for use as IPAS accommodation. 

Marc Lennon was granted conditional planning permission to convert the two pubs into accommodation for use by International Protection Accommodation Services(IPAS).  In total the pubs could provide a combined 60 bed spaces in Durrow. There were around 280 submissions made to Laois County Council in relation to both plans. 

Durrow Community Council, which held public meetings last year when the plans first came to light, called the latest meeting following the planning decisions by Laois County Council. 

“There was 100 percent support against it. We are alarmed really because where it is,” said Cllr Clooney. 

He said opponents of the plan intend to spend money in order to get professional advice on objecting to the IPAS plans. Cllr Clooney said the group would be objecting to An Comisiun Pleanala and would also seek to raise the issue with the Minister for Justice whose Department issues approval for IPAS centres. 

“There is a great community there(Durrow) and they will stand together and hopefully sense will prevail,” said Cllr Clooney. 

“We have to go the long road here and we are prepared to. I certainly will,” he added. 

Laois TD Brian Stanley said he would lodge a joint appeal against the plans with his wife Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley. He doesn’t believe Durrow is a suitable location for the proposed IPAS centres. 

Deputy Stanley said those at the meeting were determined to stop the plans. He was surprised Laois County Council approved the two IPAS centres without any provision for parking except for bicycle parking. 

Dep Stanley described the location at Mary Street as “a very narrow bottleneck for traffic on the N77” which is used by a lot of HGVs. He said even a house planning permission requires two parking spaces yet there is no provision in the two plans. 

Dep Stanley also believes the government is moving away from “just renting derelict buildings all over the place” for IPAS use particularly as not all centres are full. “With the spare capacity they don’t need to stick them into pubs,” he remarked.  

Dep Stanley referred to the Day report on IPAS centres published in October 2020. “That recommended that it would be State controlled centres. That there would be three or four of them,” he explained. 

He believes the government should concentrate on speeding up the asylum processing system in order to control numbers and quickly integrate genuine applicants. He also believes the list of safe countries needs to be revisited and revised by the government. 

Laois TD Sean Fleming said the meeting on Monday was exceptionally well organised and solely focused on the upcoming appeal of Laois County Council’s planning approval. He said planning appeals to  An Comisiun Pleanala cost €220 and as there are two plans, the total in this case would be €440 for each objection. Organisers are going to seek the help of a planning consultant, he said.

“There was unanimous criticism on the floor and of all public representatives of the decision Laois County Council made,” said Deputy Fleming. He described as “laughable” the lack of parking provision in the planning applications and he said additional IPAS spaces aren’t needed at present. 

“There were 38,000 people in IPAS two years ago, now down to 30,000. The numbers in IPAS are dropping,” said Dep Fleming. 

He explained that the government is now paying for unoccupied beds in some centres and was not looking for small private providers. He said deportations are also taking place and he knew people in Laois who were deported this year. 

“I personally know in Laois some people who have been put on a plane,” Dep Fleming revealed. 

A representative from Durrow Community Council said further meetings were likely to take place in the coming weeks in order to organise the objections to the IPAS plans.