Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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Public representatives were made aware of a contract having been signed to provide international protection accommodation at the Merriman Hotel, Kinvara, on 18 March. This was the first anybody had heard about this. It has caused enormous anger in the local community. I need to stress that the people of Kinvara have always been very welcoming to refugees from different parts of the world over many years. However, in this instance, there was zero engagement with the community in advance of this proposal, which could have allowed for potential issues to be identified and addressed, but no respect was shown to the community and no engagement took place.

There was a failure to follow the Government's stated policy of not locating new IPAS centres in the sole hotel in a town or village. The Taoiseach has informed the local community council that this does not apply to the Merriman Hotel because it has been out of use as a hotel.

This is an absurd response. The building has been in use accommodating Ukrainian refugees, and if Government is moving away from providing refugee accommodation in sole hotels, then why does this not apply to the Merriman?

Most concerning, there has been a failure to provide any clarity for the current Ukrainian residents on what their future is. We are told there is a freeze on moving Ukrainians at the moment but that this could change at any time. These people are well integrated into the community. They have built their lives there. The work there and go to school. They have made Kinvara their home, and any day now they could be told that they will be moved elsewhere at short notice. How can that be justified? It is a disgraceful way to treat human beings, especially people who have already been forcibly displaced from their home country. Now, the Government is going to put them through that again. The only people whose interests it is acting in here are the owners of the hotel who have received a very lucrative contract from the State. The community in Kinvara want a pause on these plans to allow for meaningful engagement with them and for clarity for the Ukrainian residents on their future. Will the Minister of State provide for this?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I, too, have tabled a Topical Issue matter about Dundrum House Hotel in County Tipperary. I am appalled that the Minister who is responsible for this, Deputy Foley, left this Chamber 20 minutes ago. She fled, but she cannot hide from the people. It is disgusting to treat elected representatives like this. If she was not here, I would say something, but she was here all evening in this Chamber. The contract on Dundrum House Hotel raises some very serious questions. I am extremely concerned about the lack of transparency with regard to the matter. We need to know how such a contract has been awarded to Utmasta Limited, a newly formed private company incorporated in Spain last January. The company lists a single director, Ms Ana Maria Fernandez Sanchez, with a declared income of €120. This contract for €20 million of taxpayers' money was signed in such a fashion. The Tánaiste, Simon Harris, stood in this Chamber some months ago and told me that this would all be paused. I have been running after the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, who will have responsibility for this on May Day, which is in two days' time. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has it now and she will not deal with it. Somebody signed this contract with a shady, dodgy company that is before the courts. Three cases have been in the courts this week across the river in this city with the receivers, the funders for the company and, indeed, the Dundrum heritage company.

I salute na daoine ó Dhún Droma i dTiobraid Árann. They are decent people. However, blackguarding has gone on here. This is taxpayers' money on a €20 million contract. It is €20 million in taxpayers' money with a paper company that is not there. We know it is the same owners who have it, and the people who have been dealing and blackguarding and who are not interested in the well-being of IPAS people. They are interested in their greasy pockets. I am shocked that the Government think they can wash their hands like Pontius Pilate. I know it is after Easter. That is what it is from the Minister, Deputy Foley, to evade this question. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is saying he has not got it. The Minister of State is here tonight. No disrespect to him; he is probably reading out an answer. However, the public need answers about enormous amounts of taxpayers' money going into companies that have no track record and as I said, are before the courts. The Department of integration was made clearly aware of this. To have signed this for 277 applicants to be put into a village of 200 people is simply GUBU territory. That is grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented. It is shocking.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies O'Hara and McGrath for raising these important matters tonight and for allowing me, as Deputy McGrath said, to respond on behalf of the Minister.

I say to Deputy O’Hara that the Department recently announced that 98 beds for families seeking international protection will be provided at the Merriman Hotel in Kinvara. The property was previously used to house people who were beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive due to the war in Ukraine and was also used as an international protection accommodation services accommodation centre prior to 2022.

The community engagement team has been sharing information with local representatives and community groups since 18 March, including, as the Deputy said, a detailed briefing note, meetings and personal contacts. My information is that the engagement with the community has been extensive over recent months, and we will now progress to providing refuge to families at this location. In terms of the people from Ukraine who remain at the property, they will stay at the Merriman and will be accommodated under the new arrangements.

One of the queries raised during community engagement in Kinvara was the agreement to not contract IPAS accommodation in a given town’s only operating hotel. This was accepted by Government and was agreed to on the basis of not removing an important current amenity from public use. The hotel has not been in public use since the Covid-19 pandemic, and since 2022, it has been providing accommodation under contract to the Department. As such, it was not considered necessary to exclude it from consideration for this much-needed accommodation for families in need of shelter.

Deputy McGrath raised the issue of Dundrum House Hotel, which ceased operation as a hotel in 2015. There is a golf course, grounds and a hospitality business on site, which have remained open to the community while part of the site operates as an accommodation centre. The former hotel has been providing refuge to a peak capacity of 270 people from Ukraine since 2022, and to more than 50 international protection applicants since the summer of last year.

A new contract has commenced at this property, and the centre will provide accommodation to up to 277 people in families seeking international protection. This figure includes beneficiaries of temporary protection due to the war in Ukraine who were already being accommodated and is not therefore an increase in the overall capacity at this centre since 2022. The community engagement team has extensively engaged with the local community about this property since May 2024, including discussions on the potential accommodation of international protection applicants.

On 15 April 2025, the community engagement team sent a formal briefing note, including the name of the accommodation provider, the type and nature of accommodation to be provided and details about the services to be put in place. In terms of the provider themselves, the Department can consider offers of accommodation from a tax-compliant company, subject to compliance with statutory requirements and minimum standards. Offers of accommodation can be made by a property owner, leaseholder or other authority. As part of the Department's appraisal process, it can confirm if an offer has come from someone with the appropriate authority. The Department carries out due diligence on accommodation being contracted to ensure Companies Registration Office and tax compliance.

In line with EU trade arrangements, a company or company director from another EU member state may operate contracts within Ireland or work with an Irish business to do so. In terms of the contract in this case, the registered company named on the contract is a newly established entity that fully met the Department’s requirements. The company is part of a wider commercial group that has experience in providing international protection accommodation. Where the Department enters into a contract, the onus is on the accommodation provider to ensure all activities at the property are within legal limits.

The Department understands the local authority is in contact with the property with regard to planning matters, and as this is a large site with various distinct areas and uses, these matters are largely unrelated to the areas of the site contracted to the Department. The Department is also aware of ongoing court proceedings with regard to this property, which is not appropriate for me to comment upon. I assure the Deputy that should any action be required as a result of any court proceedings or the local authority’s engagement at the property, these will be addressed by Department officials as appropriate.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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Engagement is no good after a decision is made. That is not consultation. Communities cannot be kept in the dark on these proposals and treated with utter contempt. It is a recipe for disaster. Stating that the sole hotel policy does not apply to hotels like the Merriman is a cop-out. It is a hotel. It is the only one in the village. This is a tourist village, and the loss of this hotel is having a serious economic impact. There is no clarity for the Ukrainian residents - 40 people are still there, by the way. Shame on this Government for treating these people in this manner and leaving them in limbo and in this uncertain situation. There should be a practical plan put in place to keep these people in the community and in the hotel until that is achieved. Government needs to put this contract on hold and engage with people in the local community. The Minister, Deputy Foley, or an Taoiseach should come down to Kinvara and explain to the local community how this is not a hotel and explain to the Ukrainian residents why they cannot provide any clarity to them on their future. I ask that this be taken back to the Minister, Deputy Foley, and Minister of State, Deputy Brophy. I agree that it is very disappointing that the Minister left before this.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I am extremely disappointed with the reply the Minister of State read out. I want the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Justice and the Minister, Deputy Foley, to halt, pause and withdraw this contract because of the company that is involved. The Minister of State gave me gobbledegook there. It is not legal to pay €20 million to a company that has not filed taxes and that is not compliant with the Companies Act. Both Brogan Capital Ventures Limited and Utmasta Limited are subsidiaries of Steelworks Investments Limited.

That holding company last filed accounts with the Companies Registration Office in 2017. In the name of God, there is collective Cabinet responsibility under the Constitution to serve the people of Ireland and not to be trading with these cabal outfits that have no trust. The people in Dundrum House, Tipperary, and all over the country are incensed. The Government continues with this failed policy and makes greedy people richer and fat cats fatter in the name of looking after people. They have no interest in looking after people. They are interested only in the money in their pockets. It is disgusting that this contract has been signed. I want it withdrawn and I want a full investigation. I have referred the matter to the Committee of Public Accounts, and I hope the Minister of State will support me with that. This is a shocking vista and it is not acceptable.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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To Deputy O'Hara, I repeat that those people from Ukraine who remain in the property will stay at the Merriman Hotel and will be accommodated under new arrangements. That is fairly black and white. I take on board the comments of both Deputies and will bring them back to the Minister.

The Department has been working with communities all over Ireland to source and provide accommodation for people applying for international protection. Emergency centres have been opened in all parts of the country. This is part of Irish and EU law and is also part of our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing war and persecution in their home countries. I repeat that it is our humanitarian duty.

The State is currently accommodating over 33,000 people in over 320 international protection accommodation centres around the country. The Government is working towards a more sustainable international protection accommodation system that will include moving away, over time, from an over-reliance on commercial and emergency accommodation contracts. The Government is working to ensure that a greater proportion of accommodation is provided on State-owned land over time. The degree of control given to the State by the creation of a core supply of State-owned accommodation for both emergency and permanent options will increase as supply is delivered, re-establishing strategic direction over the accommodation type, location and dispersal pattern. This work will be progressed as part of the development of a new migration and integration strategy, and will shortly transfer from this Department to the Department of Justice. That move is to be completed in the coming days.

Deputy Mattie McGrath made reference to May Day. I repeat that there has been engagement. We have a humanitarian duty. The Government and Department are working in compliance with tax requirements, the Companies Registration Office and EU trade agreements.

I ask Members to be careful in the language they use. I recognise their views are sincerely held. However, our language and how we express ourselves is very important. We are talking here about people who are looking for refuge and are living in communities. I urge all Members to be sensitive to the needs of everybody.