It was reported last week that residents of the IPAS asylum accommodation centre in the former Mosney Holiday Park in County Meath were unhappy with the fact that they have to remain there despite having been granted leave to remain.
This followed an unannounced HIQA inspection of the facility on June 11th and 12th last which found that 702 of the 875 residents had indicated that they had been granted either full or subsidiary protection but that notice had been served on 250 of them that they would have to leave the holiday camp by the end of July and find their own accommodation.
They now find themselves in the same position as every other person living in the state who has to find a place to live. That situation, of course, would not have arisen had the recommendations of the White Paper on Direct Provision been implemented.
That was published in February 2021 and recommended that the state immediately set about establishing “an Inter-Departmental Task Force to source accommodation for those with status who continue to live in Direct Provision centres.” However, that would only be an interim hold until the authorities were able to put in place the “proposed new model.”
That would replace Direct Provision entirely and ensure that all asylum seekers be immediately accommodated in centres holding up to 2,000 people in “own door accommodation.” After four months persons with initial approval would then be moved to private state supported apartments in “own door accommodation.” Bear in mind that none of these people was likely by then to have been given leave to remain in the state.
While the state would appear to be moving towards the large capacity centres – such as the one at Thornton Hall – there is no-one within the current Government nor within the main opposition party Sinn Féin who are currently demanding an accelerated process leading quickly to persons who have not even been properly processed moving into their own homes.
The White Paper then is almost quaint in its references to “hosting within the community” given that the hosting of subsequent waves of asylum seekers has, by most accounts, not been received in those communities as a good idea. None of the establishment parties is going to be trumpeting this in the run up to an imminent general election. What happens after that will depend on the outcome of the election but also on how the state proceeds from there and if any of those parties insists that they might now have a mandate to go ahead with their first instincts and provide spanking new homes for the almost 32,000 folk in IPAS accommodation, and rising.
Mosney itself serves as somewhat of a monument to a failed policy – although not for the people who own it, it must be said. It used to be a popular holiday location and its 80 acres are the site for more than 300 houses and apartments and all sorts of facilities from swimming pools to football pitches and even a mosque.
Despite some claims by some residents and their supporters among the NGOs the HIQA report found that:
The Centre was well designed and a person-centred approach to the provision of services had been adapted. The centre offered safe and comfortable accommodation that allowed residents to live independently, enjoy a good quality of life and engage in community life. There was evidence of an ongoing investment in staff development and in the improvement of facilities and amenities within the centre.
Mosney closed as a holiday camp in 2000 and shortly afterwards was reopened as an IPAS accommodation centre with an initial five-year contract. That contract has been extended now over almost a quarter of a century, and its capacity has expanded from 311 to 875. It has proven to be a massive source of income and profits for its owners.
Mosney Unlimited is 96.67% owned by the El Molino Hotels Unlimited Company; and in three equal 1.11% shares by Paul McCloskey, Ruth Kierans and Sarah Gates. El Molino is 99% owned by Sonning Unlimited which is registered in the Isle of Man.
Sarah Gates, formerly McCloskey is the daughter of Phelim McCloskey and is registered along with him as a director of Sonning Unlimited in the company’s annual Isle of Man return of March 2023. The other director is Andrew John Pennington. The Mosney company, then run by Phelim and Elizabeth McCloskey, was a financial donor to Fianna Fáil in 2008.
Sarah Gates-McCloskey and Phelim McCloskey were appointed as directors of Sonning Unlimited on April 27, 2016. Both are also listed on that document as directors of El Molino Hotels.
The total of payments made to the owners of Mosney since 2002 when the former holiday camp first opened as an IPAS accommodation centre is now close to €200,000,000. $200 million. The details of those payments can be found on the purchase orders of Department of Justice, who were initially responsible for overseeing the contracts, and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth who took over the steering of the gravy train.
I’m not a smart man, and I know damn all about holiday camps, but I might hazard a guess that this is a lot more than the owners of the IPAS camp might have pulled in from Hi-de-Hi happy campers – the sort whose holliers the taxpayer was not expected to stump up for, not to mention the rest of their all-year-round expenses when they left.