Proposal to re-zone land around controversial Tipperary hotel could stop IPAS centre plans
A plan to zone land that a controversial Tipperary International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre sits on for tourism and other related uses has passed its first hurdle.
At the July meeting of Tipperary County Council, councillors Liam Browne and Mary Hanna Hourigan tabled a notice of motion that the local authority consider a variation of the county development plan to extend the borders of the village of Dundrum to include Dundrum House Hotel and the land around it.
The county Tipperary hotel has been the subject of controversy since it was announced that International Protection Applicants would be housed there, despite planning and infrastructure issues at the site.
Last month, Tipperary County Council announced that they would not contest a judicial review of the Dundrum House Section 5 declaration.
A Section 5 declaration under the Planning and Development Act 2000 is a direction issued by a planning authority determining that a specific development may be considered ‘exempted development’ and therefore does not require certain planning permissions.
At the July plenary meeting, Cllrs Browne and Hourigan tabled the motion to extend the village boundaries to include the historic hotel, and that the land it sits on be zoned for tourism and leisure, as well as amenity and conservation.
It is believed that Government plans to use the site as a “super IPAS centre” similar to the Citywest Hotel in Dublin are being examined, and that the proposed boundary and zoning change at Dundrum would prevent this from happening.
If the land was successfully re-zoned, it would then be illegal to house IPAS clients at Dundrum House Hotel.
31 councillors at the county council meeting voted to support the motion, which will now see a management report drawn up on how the boundary changes might be carried out.
It emerged earlier this year that a contract had been signed to house 277 IPAS clients at the hotel, prompting local protests outside the hotel’s gates.
The contract had been awarded to a company called Utmasta Limited, a newly formed private company incorporated in Spain in January of this year. The company lists a single director, Ms Ana Maria Fernandez Sanchez, and had a declared capital of just €120.