Laois councillors unify to demand local control over IPAS centre plans

Laois councillors have sent a clear message that they want decisions on International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centres to be made within the county so local communities can have a say ahead of arrivals.

There was unanimous support at this month's Laois County Council meeting for motions tabled by Fine Gael and an ex-Sinn Féin councillor to end a fasttrack planning exemption that's being extended nationally until 2028.

However, the debate saw some strong views from local representatives, with a Portarlington representative saying "cohesion" of communities is being "destroyed", while a Portlaoise independent criticised people as 'do-gooders' for campaigning to allow families to stay if children are at school here.

Others felt a lack of consultation about IPAS centres is contributing to mistrust in communities and 'anger by the right wing'.

Laois County Council’s public representatives approved two similar motions at their September meeting, one proposed by five Fine Gael councillors and the other by Independent Cllr Aidan Mullins from Portarlington. 

They are calling on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to end a planning exemption that allowed rapid conversion of large buildings for International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS).

Instead they want all applications to go through the normal local planning process, so that people can lodge submissions, and local planning authorities make the decisions with knowledge of local services.

Councillors Conor Bergin, Vivienne Phelan, John King, Barry Walsh and Paddy Buggy had one motion, while Cllr Aidan Mullins had a second motion.

Cllr Bergin said they want “democratic oversight”, speaking on behalf of colleagues. He said the exemption was introduced in 2022 for the Ukrainian crisis but was extended to 2028.

“They bypassed normal planning applications so there was no right for people to make their opinions known. It leads to mistrust in the planning system. There was no local consultation,” he said.

The Fine Gael motion also asks the Department of Justice to engage with communities before signing contracts for IPAS centres.

“This is about trust building, having dialogue early on. When mistrust gets out you can have fear,” Cllr Bergin said.

The vacant Rathdowney shopping centre had been proposed and rejected as an IPAS centre, according to Laois Deputy Sean Fleming, who made his claim during a recent public meeting about two planned centres in Durrow. 

Cllr Mullins agreed and claimed that the system is “riding roughshod” over communities.

“Towns in rural areas are forced to accommodate large numbers of asylum seekers. They are mostly young men. Towns are suffering because of a lack of services like GPs, housing. It is causing safety concern, division and anger,” he said at the meeting.

“In Portarlington the only hotel was used to house large numbers until IPAS ended the contract. We lost our three local hotels, the East End, the Hazel and the Montague to asylum seekers.

“It’s a billion euro industry now. Our own communities must be prioritised and planners can then see if it is appropriate and the community should have a say. Now they are being offered €10,000 to go home. The Minister says over 80% are fake, not genuine yet they are putting them up in hotels and destroying cohesion of communities,” Cllr Mullins added.

He said that Kilkenny, Westmeath and Meath already passed the motion.

Cllr John King said a former hotel and restaurant in Rathdowney is an IPAS centre, and locals didn’t know until residents arrived.

“It’s not fair on communities. There’s another issue in Durrow at the moment. These owners are getting serious money, when I see the amount of people in the Commercial Inn I’d say the fire safety wouldn’t pass a lot of rules.

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Cllr James Kelly said “we’ve first hand knowledge at the meetings in Durrow, the confusion, distress and worry that these applications have brought on the area. The planning process has been completely usurped and ignored. Capacity of the health centres, schools, parking, traffic, community centres.

“I find it very disappointing that Dublin City Council voted it down, Only two independent councillors voted to remove it, the rest voted against it,” he said.

Cllr Ollie Clooney claimed that the asylum seekers are “not vetted right”.

“I’m going to call it here. People didn’t want them. They’re under suspicion. And services are not there,” he claimed.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley denounced “do gooders” who try to stop the deportation of families who fail to get asylum status.

“We need a proper process in place within three months, that if people are not entitled to be in the county they should be sent back. I’ve seen in recent times where families were asked to leave the country and we have the do-gooders looking to have them kept in the country because their children might need an education. If you’re not supposed to be here, you need to go home. You wouldn’t get away with that in any other country.

“But the problem is we don’t know where these people are. They are here for years before they are sent a letter to say they aren’t successful,” Cllr Dwane Stanley said.

Cllr Tommy Mulligan said Ireland is overwhelmed because of a lack of plan by the government.

“It’s leading to all this frustration and anger by the right wing,” he said.

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Cllr Aisling Moran added that “Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil need to discuss this with their party leaders. It’s not going to happen unless they put pressure on”, she said.

Laois County Council will now send a letter with their request for the change to the Minister for Justice.