Protests have continued outside the Racket Hall hotel in Roscrea in north Tipperary where it is proposed to place 160 persons claiming international protection in the town’s only currently operational hotel.
The group which has organised the protests, Roscrea Stands Up, has focused on this loss of a local tourist site, with all the implications that this will have for the community in the town and surrounding district.
Among those to address a large meeting of local people in the town on Saturday afternoon were TDs Mattie McGrath and Michael Lowry, as well as several county councillors and prospective candidates including Peter Madden.
Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne told those gathered that they have been treated unfairly, another indication of the sharp u turn, optically at least, of that party which would not have been next nor near such a protest several months ago.
Independent councillor for the Nenagh ward, Seamie Morris, issued a statement on the protests in which he claimed that the entire National Development Plan, including those parts of it related to Tipperary, has been abandoned in the face of the state’s decision to prioritise the needs of people claiming asylum.
Morris claimed that the government and opposition parties such as Sinn Féin and Labour have “failed the electorate”, adding that this has alienated voters at a time when the state is “in the middle of a housing crisis,” one of the consequences of which is the large number of young educated people who are being forced to leave the country at the same time as the ongoing influx of asylum seekers.
The mood of local communities in Tipperary over the issue led to the County Council sending a letter to An Taoiseach in December in which they called for a halt to persons under the responsibility of the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) being moved into premises in the county without first consulting the council regarding the suitability of the premises proposed for that purpose. The motion was proposed by Councillor Morris.
Another indication that the economic implications of the level of refugee provision is causing concerns is that the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITUC) has claimed that this is directly harming the sector. In a statement released on December 27, the ITUC pointed to the fact that an estimated 28% of all tourist beds in the state are under state contracts, and that this was set to cost the tourist sector €1 billion in lost earnings in 2024.
That concern, and statements attributed to Fine Gael TDs about similar damage being done to local businesses by the awarding of such contracts, suggests the opening of a fracture within the business sector itself. There is little doubt that many local hoteliers and others have been tempted by the offer of government cheques, and some have opted to sell out to foreign property and other interests attracted by what comparatively speaking is a low risk with high and guaranteed earnings.
In the case of Racket Hall, the hotel is owned by Swiftcastle whose directors are listed as Allen McEnery, Donal Keating, and Jody O’Sullivan. McEnery is also a director of Swiftcastle Holdings Unlimited which has the same address as Swiftcastle Roscrea at the Quality hotel, Youghal, County Cork. McEnery was general manager of Quality Hotels for ten years prior to taking the position of managing director with Swiftcastle (Roscrea.)
The other directors of Swiftcastle Holdings along with McEnery are Derek Scully and Saif Ullah Mehr, who is also listed as the company secretary. Scully is also listed as a director along with Malone Secretaries of Codelix and Coziq, both of which companies have been involved in the operation of asylum accommodation centres.
Sailf Ullah Mehr is a director along with Scully of Heronwell, which has also done well from being awarded contracts for the provision of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. This would suggest that Swiftcastle, in common with the other companies connected to Scully, has decided that the provision of such centres is currently a far more attractive option than selling beds and beef or salmon to tired and hungry tourists.
Why would they not? Heronwell was incorporated on January 25, 2022 which was excellent timing as it has since then drawn down €13,449,690 in payments for the accommodation of the Ukrainian refugees who began to arrive after the Russian invasion in February 2022. Heronwell claimed to have just 3 employees at the end of 2022, and to have had an operating profit of €1,500. Its principal activity was given as “the provision of accommodation for refugees.”
Two other companies of which Scully is a principal, Coziq and Codelix, were already providing accommodation for International Protection claimants in Direct Provision prior to the Ukrainian war. Between the beginning of 2021 and the last release of payment data from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) for the second quarter of 2023, Coziq had drawn down €7,036,870, and Condelix had been paid €4,412,416.
That amounted to a total of €24,889,976 in payments to the three companies of which Scully is a director; making it one of the most successful of native Irish companies involved in this challenging sphere. Up the Republic. Some might say that at least it is not all going to rich lads over in America and England.
Swiftcastle (Roscrea) was incorporated in 2016, as was Swiftcastle Holdings Unlimited. Scully and Ullah Mehr are directors of the latter, but not of Swiftcastle Roscrea. The hotel had been in receivership for around eight years before being put onto the market and sold in 2015.
While the awarding of contracts for the accommodation of refugees is pretty opaque and not subject to the same tendering process and planning process as for other enterprises, it is apparent that some of the larger operators have clearly targeted this area.
While the ownership of locations such as Racket Hall is partly fortuitous, the sector is dominated by a relatively small number of major operators – all of whom seem to have an excellent instinct for being in the right place at the right time. Unlike, perhaps, the communities which in their enterprises are located.