Independent Ireland Councillor for Clondalkin, Linda de Courcy, has received official confirmation for the first time that South Dublin County Council have received no Section 5 notice for asylum accommodation for either Citywest or for Crooksling which are within their planning authority.
This is despite the fact that the Department of Integration had previously sent residents of Saggart, where Citywest is located, a response which stated that Citywest “has been declared an “exempt development” by the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) under the provisions of Class 20F of Part 1, Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001.”
It’s unclear how that can be the case given that SDCC say that they never received a Section 5 application and therefore could not have granted an exemption if it was sought under Class 20F, as such an exemption requires the Council be notified of locations where the exemption is sought.
Councillor de Courcy had submitted the following query to the Council last Friday, July 11. “Did the state (Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth at the time) contact SDCC prior to turning Crooksling Nursing Home into a temporary IPA centre as outlined in SI 376/2023? This requirement is qualified by subsection 5 which states that, ´The relevant local authority must be notified of locations where change of use is taking place prior to the commencement of development. ”
Councillor de Courcy submitted the same question with regard to Citywest. She in turn received identical separate responses which stated that “no Section 5 has been received” for either Citywest or Crooksling. The Council officer instead refers to Statutory Instrument 376/2023.
That document, which was signed by Minister Darragh O’Brien in July 2023, sets out the conditions which apply where asylum accommodation can be granted an exemption, thus bypassing the normal planning procedures and guidelines.
As Councillor de Courcy notes this includes Section 5 which clearly sets out that “The relevant local authority must be notified of locations where change of use is taking place prior to the commencement of development.”
Councillor de Courcy told Gript that this is another example of the State not doing “due diligence” with regard to applications for asylum accommodation centres.
“The State is not abiding by its own legislation, and is not holding itself to the same criteria and processes that apply to every other citizen, in the case of where someone might apply to build an extension for example.
“I will be again contacting the Council on the basis of what we have discovered today and will be asking them why they are not issuing enforcements if there are accommodation centres under their planning authority which it appears do not have the proper Section 5 exemptions.”
It ought also be borne in mind that – as we reported following the outcome of a High Court case – the State has revoked Statutory Instrument 481/2024 which allowed the use of Crooksling in the first instance.
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