A proposal to convert a hotel in Co Galway into accommodation for asylum seekers has been paused.
An offer has been made to the Department of Integration to convert the Carna Bay Hotel into an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre.
The hotel has been closed to visitors since March 2022, after which it was used to accommodate Ukrainian refugees.
The hotel has held regular coffee mornings, organised by the local community, to support Ukrainian refugees staying there and in the area.
Conor McGregor presidential bid: All but one of 188 councillors would not vote for MMA fighter, survey shows
Ireland weather: Sunshine and temperatures up to 17 degrees expected, say Met Éireann
Adolescence in teenagers’ own words: ‘Parents have absolutely no idea’
Steve Wall: ‘When Bono was offered the medal, I tweeted: Surely he won’t accept that. I didn’t know he already had’
The department released a statement on Wednesday following protests by local residents opposed to the hotel being used as an IPAS centre, saying it has noted that locals want it turned back into a hotel.
“We informed the community and media in recent weeks that we had decided to pause the appraisal of this offer for three months,” the department said.
“This is because the community are making a proposal about developing a community hotel. Our department are pausing the appraisal in order to let the community advance this proposal with the appropriate bodies.
“After three months, our intention is to resume the appraisal of the site. There is no contract in place for accommodation for international protection applicants at this site.”
About 100 people, including several Ukrainians living at the hotel, protested outside the hotel on Tuesday night in response to local rumours that new arrivals were imminent, according to the protest’s organiser, Meadhbh Ní Ghaora, who formed the Carna Bay Hotel Action Group.
Ms Ní Ghaora cited concerns over tourism, the decline of the Irish language in this part of Connemara, which is a Gaeltacht area, and a lack of amenities for international protection applicants as reasons for local opposition. She said the community feared “that people will be brought in overnight”.
Speaking on Tuesday night, Ms Ní Ghaora said protesters would be “staying through the night”.
The absence of a hotel for the past three years in the small Co Galway village has had a significant effect on the local community, she said, with a “huge decline” in tourists locally since its closure.
A meeting held earlier this month in response to the proposals attracted more than 200 locals, she said.
“We have had no hotel here and we really depend on it for tourism – and that’s the issue. We want it back. We don’t want to lose it,” she said.
“We have three big festivals here and there has been a decline in them over the last three years because there’s a lack of accommodation.”
Parents visiting children studying at the nearby Irish college during the summer, meanwhile, have been staying in nearby towns or in the city, she said.
“They’re not spending money here. If they were staying here, they’d eat in the restaurants or the pubs and they’d be bringing the kids but, now, they’re just bringing them to Clifden or Galway,” she said.
Mulcahy Steel, the owners of the hotel, were contacted for comment.
