The new year began with another sign that effective public pressure backed by political representation can halt proposals detrimental to the community before they are properly off the ground.
Gript was informed by several people over last weekend that it appeared The Courtyard in Schull, south west Cork, was to be opened in February as a centre providing accommodation to persons claiming International Protection.
A local business person Ricky or Richard Walsh was the main local person involved in the proposal and my research found that he is the owner of a holding company called Jastar Investments. He is also involved in a number of local businesses and most exotically of all happens to be a director of Shelbourne FC, the current League of Ireland champions.
Walsh had experienced the downside of the crash and in 2011 was left with an entire “ghost estate” Copper Point in Schull but has managed to recover since. His Walsh Group was one of those saved through the intervention of the National Assets Management Agency – NAMA.
As it happened, local Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins was made aware of the proposal and yesterday morning he and other local people, as he has posted on his Facebook page, met with those behind the proposal to open The Courtyard as an accommodation centre and they “agreed to withdraw any and all applications to the planning Authority in Cork County Council and the Department of Equality and integration for an ipas centre for the Courtyard Schull.”
The developers themselves have issued a statement, which can also be found on Michael Collins’ page confirming that they are now withdrawing from the process. They also provide some details regarding how The Courtyard came to be selected for such a purpose and the background to that in itself makes interesting reading and provides some insight into how such contracts are applied for and awarded.
It ought to be pointed out that nobody including Michael Collins the TD for the area, nor the local councillors could have been aware of the plans through the normal course of events as the normal planning applications and procedures were not and do not legally have to be adhered to.
The premises had previously been offered by the owners to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) to provide accommodation for Ukrainian refugees who had been granted Temporary Protection but had not met with the “required standard” by October 31st last.
The process, according to the statement by the owners, had begun in June 2024 when they were considering the “redevelopment of this vacant shop premises either as an exempted 9 apartment development or a high-quality tourism hostel.” Well, guess which one they chose …
What ought to be borne in mind is that all of this was done with the knowledge of officials of Cork County Council but that none of it had to be applied for and processed through the normal planning system which would have given foreknowledge to local Councillors and the normal ability to scrutinise planning proposals.
When work did begin at The Courtyard it was with the sole purpose not of building a tourist hostel, but rather “of refurbishing the building under the Emergency Refurbishment (Ukraine) Programme … with the full encouragement of CCC and the Department of Children, Equality, Integration, Disability and Youth (DCEDIY.)”
There was no local consultation nor notice given and it was only people in Schull observing what was going on and knowing the persons who were involved in that which alerted them to the possibility and indeed likelihood that The Courtyard was going to be used to accommodate refugees.
Far from the owners being innocents abroad and open to local consultation and advice, a local business person to whom Gript spoke told me that once he and others began to question the proposal in the last week or two that a concerted campaign was launched to discredit objectors with the usual tropes of “far right” and what not. Not all local elected representatives were as responsive to local concerns as Michael Collins, let us say.
What happened after the October 31st deadline to open as a centre for Ukrainian refugees under Temporary Protection is rather curious. For, according to the statement by the owners, “Cork County Council and DCEDIY proposed to the owner that the building be offered to the Department for International Protection (IP) accommodation.”
The owner pursued this option and according to a message shown to Gript that was sent to another local political representative – not Michael Collins – from the Minister in charge of the Department, Roderick O’Gorman, the proposal was set for a “Completion date … around February.” O’Gorman said that the premises had been offered to IPAS on December 17th.
None of this as it stands is to go ahead. The credit for that must go to the local community including local business people and to local political representatives including Michael Collins who listened to those concerns and were quick to act and to persuade the owners of the premises in question to withdraw their application in the interests of the community.