The Department of Justice will not proceed with a plan to house asylum-seekers in Myshall, Co Carlow, against which locals protested last year. A retreat centre bought for the Department by the Office of Public Works will be used instead by the Irish Society for Autism, which was outbid for the property by the OPW.
In a letter the Department told the OPW yesterday that while the Ionad Follain centre was bought because there was a severe shortage of accommodation for asylum-seekers, it did not wish to act to the detriment of vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities.
Local people had strongly objected to the plan to house asylum-seekers at the centre and said they wanted the Society for Autism to buy it. The OPW said it was unaware when it bought the centre for £1 million that the society had offered £700,000.
The society has said it wishes to use it as a residential centre for 22 people with autism, some of whom are now misplaced in mental health centres and psychiatric hospitals.
A spokesman for residents of the area, Mr Chas Murphy, welcomed the news and said justice had been done. "This small parish has three autistic children so we understand why a centre like this is badly needed. We're very, very happy about it."
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