The town of Kilcock received good news prior to the Bank Holiday weekend when on Friday An Coimisiún Pleanála notified Kildare County Council that an application by Frostbreak Unlimited for a proposed change of use at Shalom Nursing Home, Church Street, to provide accommodation for persons seeking International Protection constitutes “development and not exempted development.”
In order to proceed now, Frostbreak would have to revert to the normal planning process and while local residents are cautious they are pleased with the decision of ACP which is normally the last resort and where a negative decision by the Commissioners ought normally to settle the matter.
Application for IPAS centre met with strong local opposition
I first reported on large protests at the site after it had been revealed that on May 15, 2025, a company called Frostbreak had applied for the now rejected exemption.
On June 11, 2025, the Council planners informed Frostbreak that it was not exempted. The proposal appeared to be dead in the water, and that seemed to be confirmed by the Department of Justice stating that: “The Community Engagement Team can confirm that the Department had previously received an offer of potential accommodation for people seeking international protection at Shalom Nursing Home,16 R148 Church Street, Kilcock, Co. Kildare and the property is no longer under consideration.”
Despite that, work appeared to be continuing and on June 20, 2025, Kildare County Council issued a warning letter to Frostbreak ordering them to cease all unauthorised works. A local resident sought and was granted a High Court injunction on July 14, 2025.
Not to be deterred, Frostbreak applied for a retention order to retain gates and fencing, That application was then referred to An Coimisiún Pleanála in September last year.
In August, 2025, Frostbreak made another application to Kildare County Council and oddly – given their previous decision – on September 9, 2025, Kildare County Council decided that the new application did constitute exempted development.
Kildare County Council kicked the decision over to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
However, as a consequence of strong local opposition in January this year Kildare County Council referred the matter to An Coimisiún Pleanála. A decision had been expected in May but was only signed off on Thursday and notified to KCC yesterday.
The contractor, Frostbreak Unlimited, was registered on March 21 2025 and is owned by another company, Branchbreak Unlimited, which was registered on March 11, 2024 and is wholly owned by Diarmuid O’Sullivan of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. The other director of Frostbreak is Helen O’Sullivan of the same address.
O’Sullivan’s Linkedin also describes himself as a “luxury house builder” and the owner of Carrickreagh Developments and Home Door Properties. Carrickreagh is based in Ballyshannon in Donegal and a Jonathan Balfour of Enniskillen is also a director of Carrickreagh.
O’Sullivan and Balfour are also involved in Huband Capital which is wholly owned by Trasna Limited. Huband is €1.17 million in the red according to the latest CRO listing.
Balfour is a director and owner of several other northern companies registered with Companies House in London. Among them are Elite Electronics which is one of the leading electronics manufacturers in Northern Ireland.
Lack of Department support indicative of political decision to avoid protests
What is also interesting about the decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála is that while they seemed prepared to accept the application for an exemption under Class 14(h) that they rejected any exemption under Class 20F for the reasons that there was “no evidence” the use would be “by or on behalf of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth”, which is a condition of that exemption.
Which would indicate that the Department has no stomach to face the sort of protests that would be sure to follow the opening of any new IPAS centre. Kilcock is clearly a consequence of a political decision by Minister O’Callaghan not to open new centres if it can be avoided.
That only came about as a consequence of community resistance around the state since 2023 with the support of a tiny number of TDs and Councillors who stood by them when they were being maligned and even pepper sprayed for standing up.