Social Affairs

Plans to house 50 asylum seekers in Ballinrobe called off following protests

Co Mayo town was due to take in international protection applicants from Monday

JJ Gannons, Ballinrobe, as it looked before the boutique hotel, restaurant and bar closed in 2012.

Ronan McGreevy
Sat Jan 6 2024 - 13:13

Plans to accommodate international protection applicants in a disused hotel in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo have been called off, a local councillor has said.

A crowd of between 50 and 100 people gathered outside the former JJ Gannon’s Hotel in the centre of the town on Friday night to protest at plans to locate the asylum seekers from this Monday.

News of the imminent arrival of the asylum seekers was released by Fine Gael Cllr Michael Burke on his Facebook page on Wednesday. He had received a briefing document from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth stating that the asylum seekers would be housed for up to a year in the town.

Cllr Burke said the owners of the property have now withdrawn the lease following negative local reaction to the proposal. It followed a public meeting on Friday night in the town attended by several local councillors.

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He said people in Ballinrobe had been taken aback by the “unbelievable short notice from the department. We were not consulted in any way as a town either by the department or the property owners.

“I am delighted with this announcement and it’s a good result for all the people that turned out last night and have been in contact with me,” he said.

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“The owners didn’t want any conflict or trouble over it. They have informed the local authority and the Department that it is not going ahead.

“I am happy that I was able to achieve that situation this morning. There was no consultation with locals. We are back to where we were.”

Cllr Burke advised the department to look “very, very closely” at where they were going to locate asylum seekers.

He said the former hotel was a boutique hotel not suitable for long-term residents in the middle of the main street and next door to an Irish language preschool. It was a very “poorly thought out proposal”, he said.

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Cllr Burke said Ballinrobe is a welcoming town and has taken in refugees in the past but criticised the lack of consultation around the plans for JJ Gannon’s, which has been closed since 2012.

“Ballinrobe has always been willing to help out those less fortunate but this is a step to far. I would like to say to the Department and to the owner of this property that this is not good enough,” he said.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in relation to the protests in Ballinrobe, the Irish Refugee Council said more than 450 international protection applicants are “without accommodation in freezing temperatures”. A cold weather advisory has been issued across Ireland by Met Éireann with temperatures set to remain low in the coming days.

Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne told the Saturday with Colm Ó'Mongáin RTÉ Radio 1 programme that that local communities were concerned about the impact on services in towns like Ballinrobe.

He said the Government needs to implement a public information campaign to explain how policy operates with regard to those who come to Ireland seeking asylum.

“A lot of people don’t understand that. When you have a vacuum of information, that vacuum is filled by bad actors. We hear these tropes thrown out regularly that we have a lot of unvetted people coming into the country. That’s not the case. The wider public do not necessarily know this,” he said.

In a statement the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said it is “continuing to engage with the provider in relation to the premises in Ballinrobe, and is not in a position to comment further”.

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Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times

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