A hugely significant High Court ruling on Monday has effectively forced the state and the contractor involved to close down the controversial IPAS accommodation centre at Crooksling in south county Dublin.
This followed a case taken by a Mr Conway (environmentalist), represented by BKC Solicitors, against the approval for the centre in the former St. Brigid’s nursing home on the basis of a Statutory Instrument 481/2024 signed by former Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderick O’Gorman on September 24, 2024.
Proceedings had been issued following inquiries made to South Dublin County Council who in the normal course of events would be the relevant planning authority. They informed Mr. Conway through his solicitors that they were unaware of any application for an exemption under Section 5 to use the site to house applicants for International Protection.
That meant that the establishment and operation of the IPAS centre at Crooksling were entirely reliant on the Ministerial order – and the State told the court that they will revoke SI 481/2024. That would mean there is no longer any legal basis for maintaining an IPAS centre in Crooksling.
The State had requested Ms. Justice Farrell to allow the order to stand until June to allow the temporary on-site accommodation to be removed. Justice Farrell adjourned the matter until Monday, May 26 at 2pm so that the State can notify the Court of what they have done in the meantime to remove the cabins.
SI 481/2024 – the instrument issued by Roderic O’Gorman – had justified the decision to bypass even the normally formal procedure whereby contractors simply notify the relevant local authority. Which in almost all cases – other than exceptions like Westmeath County Council – said authorities simply approve without any of the normal planning processes.
Minister O’Gorman cited his – and by extension our – “obligations” under the EU Regulations of 2018, as amended, to take refugees and the need to address the “acute shortage of accommodation relative to the high demand.” The initial plan being for 60 tents and then up to 160 modular homes…To cater for in or around 540 applicants” as defined under the EU legislation.
When O’Gorman had been asked in a Parliamentary Question of March 2023 regarding the “future use of the former St. Brigid’s Nursing Home,” he referred to its “possible use as accommodation in response to the Ukraine humanitarian crisis.”
It was never used to accommodate Ukrainians and when it opened it was to wider than normal public attention as the International Protection applicants who were housed there apparently decided that they didn’t like the place. There followed a well-publicised trek back to tents they had previously occupied at the IPO office in Mount Street. Both events were supported by a variety of NGOs and leftists.
So what will happen to the IPAS centre now? Might the State or the contractor who appears to be IGO Emergency Management Services apply to South Dublin County Council for an exemption? (I asked Igo if this was their intention but had received no response prior to publication.)
Independent Ireland Councillor Linda de Courcy thinks that this is unlikely given that neither they nor the State sought an exemption in the first instance. She was the only Councillor on SDCC to raise the issue of the IPAS centre at Crooksling.
At a local area committee meeting she questioned the manner in which permission had been granted and the lack of engagement by either the contractor or the State with the local authority.
Councillor de Courcy welcomed the apparent decision to close the site and that this will come as a great relief to the local community. She noted that it “will improve the place for the people who live there” but expressed concerns over where the current IPAS residents will now be moved to.
“Where will all of these people now go? It would not be fair if they are simply moved into some other community in Clondalkin or Tallaght or elsewhere without their consultation or consent, and bring with them all the problems that were starkly apparent around Crooksling.”
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