Locals of Saggart say that they have gathered more than 1800 signatures in a door-to-door drive under a week, claiming that 90% of residents asked so far have signed the petition seeking a halt to the purchase of the Citywest hotel by the government for use as a “huge” IPAS centre.
The campaign, which saw hundreds pack into the Green Isle Hotel last week for a pubic meeting, is seeking to stop the purchase of the hotel by the government, with a reported price-tag of €100 million euros.
The Citywest hub has operated as a mixed-use refugee and migrant accommodation facility since 2022 – initially used to accommodate Ukrainians. It now hosts both Ukrainians and IPAS asylum seekers. The Department of Integration has yet to confirm the final timeline for the proposed purchase, though it is expected to take place soon.
Bernard Cronin, who is organising the petition drive in Saggart, told Gript that he had called for volunteers at the meeting in the Green Isle Hotel, and was impressed to see the take-up for the idea from locals.
He said that the aim of the petition was written clearly on the sheet for everyone signing to read: to stop the government from purchasing the Citywest Hotel complex because that would mean that the hotel “will never be returned as a working hotel”.
He said that in under a week of “evenings collecting signatures door-to door” more than 1800 signatures had been gathered. “In our experience at the doors, 90% of people are signing,” he said. “In one estate, not one house who responded said they wouldn’t sign, and this is an estate with a lot of families who have come here from abroad.”
He said that a Polish women who is on the team collecting signatures and who has lived in Saggart for 18 years said she will not stay in the area if the sale goes through – and that she was not alone in her opinion. “We have a very diverse group of people collecting petition signatures,” he said. “We’re all united in the one purpose – to stop the purchase of the hotel by the government as that will mean that we will never get this amenity back for the community.”
“People are now taking sheets and going around to their neighbours as well as coming out with the team,” Mr Cronin said. “It shows just how strongly feeling is locally – that people are willing to give up their time and their evenings to do this.”
“There is anger – and even rage – because people feel completely ignored and they know they are going to lose a vitally important amenity which is so important to the community, and to other areas around Saggart that don’t have a hotel of this standard,” he said.
Mr Cronin added that while online petitions could be useful and complement the campaign, going door-to-door and gathering signatures was a meaningful representation of how people feel – while it also allowed the petition to be audited, and was also a hugely valuable exercise in listening to people
He said that the campaign’s efforts in going to local homes to talk to residents was what the TDs should be doing – and that the campaign planned to host a meeting where all five local TDs would be invited and asked to stop the purchase of the hotel. He added that the prevention of the sale should also be the catalyst for a invigorated campaign to have the hotel back in use the community.
“Citywest is a huge hotel, with hundreds of rooms, and we need that. In 2006, Ireland hosted a Ryder Cup prestigious pre-tournament dinner in Citywest, it was a huge affair. Political parties have had their Ard Fheis in Citywest,” he said. “People are raging because they were led to believe the use of Citywest for refugees was temporary – and they fully understand that if the government buy it it is forever gone as a local amenity.”
“People who don’t live in the area might not understand just how close the Citywest hotel complex is to the village of Saggart,” he said. “The graveyard in the village actually backs onto complex – onto the golf course that was part of the hotel.”
Local Councillor Linda de Courcy said that the considerable effort being put in by local people going door-to-door petition was “very impressive and showed determination and a desire for engagement by residents that was entirely missing from the political establishment.”
She said that protests on the issue would continue because the government wants to ensure Citywest will become a “huge” and “permanent” migrant centre, “with no consideration for the local people and how they might feel about this.”
The Independent Ireland councillor said local people felt their concerns around safety and a lack of local amenities in the area were not being taken seriously, and that strong views had been expressed at the meeting in the Green Isle Hotel.
Saggart residents brought traffic on the N7 almost to a standstill on Wednesday as they sought to draw attention to their opposition to the proposal to purchase the Citywest Hotel and turn it into what they say will be the largest IPAS centre in Ireland.
The “traffic protest was against the Government’s plan to purchase Citywest Hotel. The residents of Saggart have been very silent for the past 4 years as Citywest has grown to be the largest refugee centre in the country. But if the Government succeeds in buying it, it will allow them to develop it whichever way they want and mean that it will never revert to the wonderful amenity it was for so long to Saggart, Rathcoole and the wider Dublin South-West community,” they told Gript yesterday.
“We first held a meeting in the Green Isle Hotel eight days ago. It was well attended by 200 people many of whom voiced the impact of Citywest on their daily lives. The traffic protest was raised and agreed at the meeting. We regret the delays it caused to people, but we are at our wits end as all our TDs are ignoring this issue,” they added.
“We’re calling on Minister for State, Emer Higgins and Fianna Fail TD Shane Moynihan to immediately call Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to abandon his plan to buy Citywest Hotel. The opposition TDs Eoin O’Broin and Mark Ward of Sinn Fein and Independent Paul Gogarty are complicit with the government by their silence on this matter,” they said.