Former Laois restaurant approved for accommodation for Ukraine refugees

Planning permission has been granted to retain the conversion of a Laois restaurant into accommodation for Ukraine refugees.

McEvoy's bar and restaurant in Abbeyleix shut over a year ago but has been converted into multiple bedroomed accommodation. 

It now has seven shared bedrooms in the ground floor 244sqm guesthouse, with a total of 21 single beds between them.

There are also three shower rooms, toilet blocks for ladies and gents and a kitchen in the retention plan. 

It was a popular venue in the Tidy Town champion town of Abbeyleix, located in a prominent spot on Main Street in a building which is a protected structure.

Owned by the Stokes family of Castle Durrow, it had been leased out for four years, but was shut down suddenly by proprietory Sean McIlroy to the shock of the community in May of 2023.

The planners had requested further information from the applicant Icolator Ltd Simon Stokes, on the application for retention, which described the building as a guesthouse.

The council planners wanted confirmation that it complied with Bord Fáilte quality standards. They also asked the applicants to comment on two third party submissions. 

The applicant confirmed in further information that the guesthouse is to be used for displaced Ukraine people. Because of this 'significant further information', the council said more notices had to be submitted.

"On the basis that the proposal is not a standard guest house use as previously indicated and advertised but more a development for the housing of Displaced Persons from Ukraine, I consider the response from the applicant to be Significant Further Information and revised notices should be submitted by the applicant accordingly."

The approval was given on September 9.