The High Court has refused four Kinvara residents permission to challenge plans to provide 98 beds for international protection applicants at the Merriman Hotel on Main Street in the County Galway village.
Ruth Sexton, Mary Boyce, Chris Hartnett Dalton and Paul Collins sought to quash the decision outlined in a March 18, 2025 departmental briefing note. Two of the applicants operate public houses on Kinvara's Main Street, while the others had previously used the Merriman Hotel before it stopped operating as a conventional hotel in 2019.
Their central argument was that the move to accommodate 98 people, together with a new two-year contract and a planning notification by the hotel's owner, required the Minister to make a fresh designation under Regulation 7 of the 2018 reception regulations.
Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger rejected that argument at the leave stage. The applicants themselves pleaded that the Merriman Hotel had been used for international protection accommodation since 2019. The 2025 decision therefore concerned the number of people to be accommodated at an already-designated centre, not a new designation.
The court also rejected arguments that the decision was irrational because of alleged effects on local businesses, school places, medical services and the loss of the hotel as a tourist and community venue. No separate legal right to consultation or to an economic or services-impact assessment was established.
Fire-safety concerns were also insufficient to support the challenge. A Galway Fire Service email said the first floor's 32 bedrooms had an occupancy limit of 70 people, but the court held that enforcement of fire and building-control requirements was a matter for Galway County Council rather than the Minister.
The applicants also lacked standing to advance concerns on behalf of Ukrainian residents previously accommodated at the hotel.
Leave for judicial review was refused. The judge's indicative view was that the Ministers were entitled to their costs, with final orders listed for July 30, 2025.