Business owners in Dundrum in Co Tipperary have said that they will withhold rates in protest at plans to make an asylum centre of the village’s only hotel site, Dundrum House, a move that a local TD has said would leave the residents of the small village “outnumbered”.
Rolling protests have been held at the former hotel for more than two months, since news first broke that the tiny village, with a population of just 220 people, is expected to host an IPAS centre accommodating at least 255 migrants claiming asylum.
A petition opposing the use of the hotel as an IPAS centre has been signed by more than 1,700 people, while 300 people packed a meeting in the area recently to discuss the issue – and now more than 20 businesses in the village say they will use the “only power” the local community has to oppose the government’s plans, Tipp FM has reported.
Over 20 businesses in Dundrum village and the hinterlands have signed a petition showing their support for the ongoing protest by ceasing to pay their commercial rates.
This serious protest could land the shops with legal proceedings being issued, including a Court Summons or the local authority registering the debt as a judgement mortgage on the property.
Speaking on Tipp Today earlier, Peter O’Dwyer from O’Dwyer’s Hardware says this is the only power local communities can hold against the government.
On the Tipp Today programme, Mr O’Dwyer said that a meeting held in the Civic offices in Tipperary Town on Monday of this week was attended by local representatives and some TDs – and by 30 people from Dundrum, all of whom spoke “strongly” against the development of an IPAS centre in the village.
He told Fran Curry of Tipp FM that three members of the Department of Integration attended the meeting, but that he felt that they were there to “tell us what was happening” and not to listen to locals, an outcome he described as “disheartening”.
“They did not listen to one thing we had to say: they said they’d take it on board – but really at the end of the meeting they said ‘there’s 80 people coming imminently to Dundrum House’ and that was it”. He described the engagement with the Department of Integration as a “box ticking exercise” and not a consultation.
Mr O’Dwyer said that business owners were being forced into that course of action because they felt “nobody is listening”. He said that medical and transport services, and small rural schools, were already stretched. The village had no Garda station, he added.
The programme also heard that locals wanted the hotel to be developed as an amenity which would bring tourism numbers and spend into the village and the region – and referenced the promise from Taoiseach Simon Harris that any town with only one hotel would not be expected to be without that amenity to provide IPAS accommodation.
“You cannot believe anything that comes from the government,” he said, referring to such promises, saying that locals in Roscrea were told the hotel there would be to host women and children and claiming that was mostly not the case.
A local vet, Tom Comerford, also called into the show, saying that he had yet to meet a local person who supported the plans – and that locals feared that up to 500 migrants would be housed on the former hotel site.
Mr O’Dwyer also told told Tipperary Live that the number coming to the IPAS centre was too large and that such large numbers would not be possible to integrate.
“I just can’t see how these will contribute positively to the local economy, they can’t work, they just have nothing to do, there’s no resources, there’s no real transport infrastructure, there’s no health services in the locality, it’s just, what’s coming down the line really is the fright of the unknown like, we’re all just fearing for our businesses, so, to give a stance against it, against local council and to give us a stance against this and that, we just have to withhold the rates like, we think it’s the biggest thing we can do as a community.”
“Well like, legal activity or no legal activity like, the fear among the community is we won’t have any business in a couple of years, like who’s going to come to Dundrum to do their business when there’s up to 300 people around the village with nothing to do like, like there’s nothing for them to do, they will be just hanging around the village, and that’s all, you know, they’re undocumented people like, they could be anybody, could be from all walks of life, religions, how are we going to integrate them, you know?”
An 18th century estate, the Dundrum House Hotel is the only hotel in the village, and after a fire in 2015, only golf facilities were available to the public. It is owned by an American businessman, Jeffrey Leo, who announced refurbishment plans in 2019. However, the country house was then used to house Ukrainians who were welcomed in the village – and is now set to become an asylum centre.
Local Councillor John O’Heney said that losing local amenities would amount “to ripping the social fibre and fabric out of our area”.
“Having attended the four Public Meetings in Dundrum and also having attended Monday’s meeting at Council Offices in Tipperary Town with representatives from the Department of Integration, it is only now we have truly become fully aware of the long term intentions regarding the Departments plans to turn Dundrum House Hotel into a long-term IPAS Centre,” he said.
“To lose Dundrum House Hotel as an amenity in West Tipperary is a huge blow to the area and the wider Tourism sector of the County. Dundrum House House is a renowned Hotel, Golf Club, Leisure Centre, Restaurant and Bar and it should be kept as such,” he said.
“I stand with the Residents of Dundrum and the Business people of the area who have voiced their opposition to this occurring,” he added. “Huge concerns have to be rasied on how the IPAS Centres are being implemented nationally, and it is clear that the current Government policy is not working. The closing down of local hotels and other local amenities to accommodate this is not right.”
“There has been a major lack of consultation and communication with the general public, particularly with the people of Dundrum. I would question the motives behind the decision to house this IPAS Centre in the area and the word ‘Greed’ comes to mind,” the Councillor said.
Last week, local woman, Fiona Kennedy, told Tipp FM that what is being proposed will destroy the village – adding that everyone believed that the number of asylum applicants would eventually grow to 550 people because of the capacity on offer.
Ms Kennedy also told RTÉ’s Drivetime that the protesters wanted to tell government to stop “forcing these situations on ordinary people.”
Tipperary TD, Mattie McGrath said that there had been “no consultation” in relation to Dundrum House Hotel and that the local people were not being listened to despite being reasonable with their concerns.
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Deputy McGrath previously said that local people in the village say they fear they will be “outnumbered” if a local asylum centre brings 255 people to the area – adding that the government is treating “its own people with utter contempt on the immigration issue”.