Minster Kevin “Boxer” Moran has been sharply criticised as being a “hypocrite” on the issue of a centre for 1,000 male asylum claimants planned for Lissywollen in Athlone – as its claimed he now supports legislation to scupper the legal challenge to the centre, despite supporting the action before becoming a TD.
The criticism comes as the four Councillors who continue to oppose the plans say the government’s actions are an “astonishing abuse of power and process”, according to Midland Radio.
They also described the government’s plans seeking to overcome the admission that he Lissywollen asylum centre was an “unauthorised development” as a “complete farce” and “beyond belief”.
The State is proposing new legislation that will retrospectively address issues around the planning and environmental impacts that saw work on the project halted.
Paul Hogan, Frankie Keena, John Dolan, and Aengus O’Rourke believe the State’s approach represents an “astonishing abuse of power and process.”
The Councillors are also taking aim at the Minister for the Office of Public Works, Kevin Boxer Moran, who is backing the government’s actions despite being co-signatory on the original case against the Government.
The latest High Court hearing saw the State deliver an outline of their plans – it’s understood the legislation may be ready in November, Midlands Radio reported.
Minister Moran was also slammed by Independent councillor in Laois, Aidan Mullins, who considers him a hypocrite.
“Kevin Boxer Moran was a co-signatory with 4 other Councillors in a Court case taken against the Government over a proposed 1,000 person capacity IPAS Centre in Athlone. He’s now supporting the Government to bring in legislation to prevent such cases in future. What a hypocrite,” Cllr Mullins said.
As a Councillor, Moran backed an action also taken by four other Councillors – Independent Ireland’s Paul Hogan, Frankie Keena and Aengus O’Rourke of Fianna Fáil, and John Dolan of Fine Gael – last November, which ultimately successfully challenged the government’s plan for the IPAS centre on the basis that the project bypassed planning approval and that the Minister had presumed two specific EU law environmental assessments did not need to be conducted.
Cllr Paul Hogan’s case was that the ministerial process used to begin the IPAS accommodation plan was unlawful, irrational and a breach of fair procedures – and he sought an order quashing the use of the statutory instrument being used to bypass planning for the development. He also argued that the asylum centre would “inevitably” lead to a “significant traffic hazard and a health and safety issue”.
Last December, then Minister for Integration, Roderic O’Gorman conceded the case – with counsel telling the High Court that the IPAS development would now be considered an “unauthorised development”.
However, the state then argued that it would bring forward legislation – promising a draft would be presented in the court – which promised to address the errors retrospectively. The state sought, and was granted, a stay on the order quashing the use of a statutory instrument used to speed up the development of the asylum facility at Lissywollen, with Justice Emily Farrell saying that she would deter making orders until after the Oireachtas summer recess , but that she wanted to see draft legislation before then.
Now the Minister for the Office of Public Works, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, has been contacted for comment for this report, but has not yet responded.
On July 29th, the State produced a ‘General Scheme of a Planning and Development Act (Planning Status of State sites) Amendment Bill 2025’ which they said will be placed before the Dáil in November.
According to Matt Treacy’s report for Gript:
The Bill proposes to ensure that “development undertaken pursuant to Ministerial Orders made under section 181(2) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, the development in question being judged by the Minister who made the Order to be required by reason of an accident or emergency, may be regularised.”
In almost Kafkaesque language it goes on to state that even “where the said Order had subsequently been rescinded,” that any works undertaken on the basis of that rescinded Order will be “regularised” so that “operations may proceed as envisaged under the original Ministerial Orders.”
In plain man’s language this means that even though the State has been challenged by Westmeath County Councilor Paul Hogan and supported by Councillors Aengus O’Rourke, Frankie Keena and John Dolan, and been forced to concede on the validity of the Statutory Instrument that provided the legal basis for the asylum centre in Athlone, and similar to those at Crooksling, Thornton Hall and elsewhere; that the new legislation will allow the State to ignore all of that and to proceed with the maintenance of existing or planned asylum accommodation centres on State lands.
To further avoid the inconvenience of local opposition – including that which has been clearly and unequivocally made clear by Westmeath, Kilkenny and Wicklow County Councils – the Scheme of the Bill allows the Minister up to two years “after the quashing/invalidation of the previous order” to go straight to An Coimisúin Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanála) for a screening report thus avoiding any democratic oversight or decision.