Latest news with #DundrumHouseHotel
Irish Independent
17-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Proposal to re-zone land around controversial Tipperary hotel could stop IPAS centre plans
At the July meeting of Tipperary County Council, councillors Liam Browne and Mary Hanna Hourigan tabled a notice of motion that the local authority consider a variation of the county development plan to extend the borders of the village of Dundrum to include Dundrum House Hotel and the land around it. The county Tipperary hotel has been the subject of controversy since it was announced that International Protection Applicants would be housed there, despite planning and infrastructure issues at the site. Last month, Tipperary County Council announced that they would not contest a judicial review of the Dundrum House Section 5 declaration. A Section 5 declaration under the Planning and Development Act 2000 is a direction issued by a planning authority determining that a specific development may be considered 'exempted development' and therefore does not require certain planning permissions. At the July plenary meeting, Cllrs Browne and Hourigan tabled the motion to extend the village boundaries to include the historic hotel, and that the land it sits on be zoned for tourism and leisure, as well as amenity and conservation. It is believed that Government plans to use the site as a 'super IPAS centre' similar to the Citywest Hotel in Dublin are being examined, and that the proposed boundary and zoning change at Dundrum would prevent this from happening. If the land was successfully re-zoned, it would then be illegal to house IPAS clients at Dundrum House Hotel. 31 councillors at the county council meeting voted to support the motion, which will now see a management report drawn up on how the boundary changes might be carried out. It emerged earlier this year that a contract had been signed to house 277 IPAS clients at the hotel, prompting local protests outside the hotel's gates. The contract had been awarded to a company called Utmasta Limited, a newly formed private company incorporated in Spain in January of this year. The company lists a single director, Ms Ana Maria Fernandez Sanchez, and had a declared capital of just €120.
RTÉ News
29-05-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Dundrum locals vow to continue protest outside IPAS hotel
Locals in a Co Tipperary village are vowing to continue their protest outside a former hotel now housing applicants seeking international protection a year after their demonstration first began. It has been one year since round-the-clock protests began outside Dundrum House Hotel, with local TDs now calling on the Minister for Justice and the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee to review a new contract signed with its operators. Dundrum House is an 18th-century country estate, situated around 14km from both Cashel and Tipperary town. The hotel building was closed to the public following a ballroom fire in 2015, but its golf resort, restaurant and leisure facility continue to trade. Locals welcomed 277 Ukrainian refugees to the guest accommodation there in 2022. However, as many moved on from the facility, political representatives were told on 29 May last year that Dundrum House would begin to accommodate international protection applicants as well as Ukrainian refugees, while details of a new two-year contract confirmed plans to provide 277 beds for international protection applicants there last month. Local residents have maintained a 24/7 presence at the hotel gates for a year, with people taking turns to attend the makeshift camp where a caravan and tent with a wood-burning stove provide shelter under floodlights. The camp is surrounded by Irish flags and numerous placards with slogans including "Dundrum says No to Direct Provision", "Peaceful Community Protest Supported by Local Businesses" and "Make Dundrum Great Again". One of those protesting, Fiona Kennedy, told RTÉ's Drivetime that the camp "has never once been unattended", even on Christmas Day and through extreme winter storms. Locals are "steadfast" in their view that a village of 220 people cannot cater for 277 international protection applicants, and their main aim is to "get our hotel back" for tourism. With a number of new arrivals to the hotel this week, Ms Kennedy said locals know it is housing international protection applicants, but "are at a loss to understand how a contract could have been signed". Ms Kennedy said planning issues were raised by Tipperary County Council, and separately there were "three court cases pending at the moment" relating to Dundrum House. Local political representatives claimed the two-year contract could be worth €16 million to €20 million following government communications in April confirming that 277 beds would be provided for international protection applicants in Dundrum House. The property is being operated by Utmasta Limited, a newly formed Spanish-based company with a 20-year lease on the site.
