Public anger and upset is growing in Carna, a village in the Conamara Gaeltacht of significant cultural importance, at proposals to have the Carna Bay Hotel, which has housed Ukrainians for three years, operate as an IPAS asylum centre.
A packed public meeting in the Cill Chiaráin community centre on 8th March heard from a representative of the Carna Bay Hotel who said that the hotel would continue offering accommodation to Ukrainians for 6 months while a section would be open to the public – but on March 12th, local County Councillors were advised that a proposal to house 84 asylum seekers in the village is being considered.
The hotel, which was opened in the 1970s, is now owned by Mulchay Steel, a Cork-based company. It has been used to house Ukrainians since 2022, with up to 52 people being accommodated in the Gaeltacht village, a situation that locals believed would last just months.
Now those locals are in the “small, tight-knit community” are “furious” says Noel Thomas, a local Independent Ireland councillor who attended the meeting on March 8th which he said was was packed by hundreds of people who say they want their hotel and its facilities returned to the community.
“The meeting was packed, people standing, out the door, because Carna is a small, tight-knit community that has already been deprived of a key facility for three years, and now they are hearing that instead of the hotel being brought back into community use, it’s being proposed for use as an asylum centre,” he told Gript.
“Local people are furious,” he said. “They feel this would destroy the area. He said that the hotel owners should cancel the offer of the centre for use as asylum accommodation. “They can withdraw the offer of the hotel as an IPAS centre if they want,” he said. “That’s what the locals want them to do.”
Carna and Iorras Aithneach are famed as a hub of seannós singing, perhaps the most ancient and revered of the Irish traditional arts. Joe Éinniú (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) learned more than 500 songs growing up in Carna, and other renowned exponents include Seán ‘ac Dhonncha, Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Josie Sheáin Jeaic ‘ac Dhonncha, Dara Bán Mac Donncha, and Micheál Mháire Gabha.
The area became a major center in the collection of Ireland’s rich oral literature: in one instance Éamonn Búrc of Carna gave collectors 158 tales – with some “being very long” and one running to to 34,000 words – being described by the collector as “one of the finest folk-tales I have ever read in any language”.
Cllr Thomas said that an IPAS centre had been pushed through in Carraroe – An Cheathrú Rua – another village in Conamara last June with Garda vans and cars blocking local protesters who said that the government was breaking its own rules in relation to protecting the language in Gaeltacht areas.
At the time, the manager of local co-op, Comharchumann Mhic Dara, Seán Ó Dómhnaill said that people without Irish were being brought to live in a Gaeltacht area, when the local people were being refused planning permission to build in the area.
“Táimíd ag cur ceist ar ais an Rialtas inniu: cén uair go bhfuil deireadh leis an teanga?” he asked “Sí Ghaeilge an teanga – sin é an difrocht idir muide agus ceanntracha eile.”
“We’re asking this question of the government today: When does the language die? Gaeilge is the language – that’s the difference between this and other areas.”
Noel Thomas said that the people of Carna and Cill Chiaráin did not want to be “pushed aside” as was happening elsewhere throughout the country. He said that in An Cheathrú Rua, where asylum seekers has been placed despite huge local opposition, new arrivals has been offered english classes – and that there was no recognition that by the government of their obligation to protect the Irish language.
ARE THEY TRYING TO DESTROY THE LANGUAGE?
“The government absolutely should be taking extra cognisance that Carna and Cill Chiaráin are Gaeltacht areas,” he said. “Are they trying to completely destroy the language?”
“We have a weak, delusional government,” the Independent Ireland Councillor said. “They must act to stop IPAS centres being imposed on these small rural areas, particularly the Gaeltacht areas. And, given that the government has shown it is likely to fail local people, the Carna Bay Hotel should withdraw its application offering the hotel as an IPAS centre. The people of Carna need that hotel back.”
A campaign group set up in the area – Grúpa Gníomh Ostán Cuan Charna – also told Gript that the hotel was essential for the local community who had now been left without facilities for three years.
They pointed out that the nearest hotel to Carna that remained open for business was in Clifden which is 40 minutes away – and that Peacocks Hotel in Maam Cross and the hotel in An Cheathrú Rua were also hosting refugees.
The group said that the closure of the Carna Bay Hotel to the locals was a big loss to the community, and that local people needed space for funerals, weddings, and other social events.
They also said that local festivals in the Iorras Aithneach area – such as Féíle Joe Éinniú, Éigse Mhichael Mháire Ghabha and Féile Mhic Dara, which celebrate Gaeltacht and traditional Irish culture – were being impacted by the loss of the hotel.
Visitors to those festivals in recent years, they said, were often surprised that they had been forced to travel 40 minutes to a hotel because the Carna Bay, which had been offering accommodation since the 1970s was now a refugee centre. They said that everyone at the crowded meeting in Cill Chiaráin “want their hotel back” – and that locals had initially been led to believe that Ukrainian refugees would in situ for 3 months, but that has been extended by continuous renewal of short-term contracts.
While up to 52 Ukrainians had been staying in the hotel initially, those numbers had fallen, the group said, down to 14 people because “the facilities aren’t in Carna” – with people moving to Clifton, Donegal and elsewhere, sometimes to be near family members.
The group said that IPAS centres were unsuited for Gaeltacht areas in particular, and that local people “are upset, they are devastated” by the proposals. They also contrasted the difficulties that locals had in obtaining planning permission to build in the Gaeltacht, even though they spoke Gaeilge, with the ability of IPAS contractors to bypass planning permission because of the special exemption granted by the government,
A spokesman pointed to a recent example where they said a man from Rosmuc had come back from Australia with his family, hoping to raise his three children in Conamara, but ended up returning to Australia because the family couldn’t get planning permission to build a home.
The spokesman said that planning exemptions should be granted to families and local young people who wanted to live in the Gaeltacht and “keep our language and culture alive”, rather than to contractors who wanted to open IPAS centres.
“We already have no facilities, literally no footpath, no streetlights, only one bus a day to Galway city,” he told Gript. “We are asking for years for help, and got nothing, and we already feel like second-rate citizens.”
“Níl aon ostán eile againn – Carna is finished if this goes through,” he said.
A response from the hotel to locals, seen by Gript said that the contract for Ukrainian residents been extended by six months, and that the hotel would not be open for 16th July 2025 as had been mentioned at the March 8th meeting, according to attendees.
The email said that the hotel is not for sale – and when asked if it was possible to have a meeting with the owner, the manager replied that “there are a number of partners involved with Carna Bay Hotel; all meetings need to be with the hotel Manager.”
Asked if the owner would consider revoking the IPAS application, the hotel replied that “Carna Bay Hotel has been fully contracted to DCEDIY and IPAS, with over 3 years. Presently housing the Ukrainian families, until the contract ceases no clear decision can be made on the use of the property. The company have looked at several different options. Accommodation provider for workers from the offshore wind farms when this commences, changing the hotel into apartments for accommodation and its current use with the department.”
“Opening Carna Bay Hotel is not feasible, as it is seasonal and rooms would only be rented for 2 to 3 months of the year, staffing is then an issue as employees need full time employment, and the overheads are too high,” the email said.
Noel Thomas and local campaigners say the government can provide a solution for locals: remove the ability to bypass planning permission for asylum centres in Gaeltacht areas – or ensure that these areas where the state has an obligation top protect the language are exempt from asylum accommodation.
Grúpa Gníomh Ostán Cuan Charna said that they had contacted all local TDs and Senators, and that Senator Sean Kyne was working to get a local delegation to meet the Minister. Locals say that Forbairt Conamara Lár, which is funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta, have drafted a business plan to enable the hotel to be brought back into community use, but now the hotel manager says it is not for sale. They say a resolution that brings the hotel back to the community must be found.