The High Court has been told that the State has conceded a legal challenge brought by a local councillor against an expedited plan to house around 1,000 international protection applicants in Athlone.
At the High Court, Oisín Collins SC, for Cllr Paul Hogan, told Mr Justice Richard Humphreys that “the case is being conceded” by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability and Youth and that “the development will be an unauthorised development”.
Ms Aoife Carroll SC, for the State, said that the case was due to be heard on Thursday of this week but that now the matter could be put in for mention on the same date.
Ms Carroll said she would take instruction from the Minister in the matter before Thursday.
In his challenge, Mr Hogan, a councillor for Independent Ireland, claimed the ministerial process providing for the plan was unlawful, irrational and a breach of fair procedures.
Four other Athlone-based representatives, newly re-elected independent TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran and councillors Frankie Keena and Aengus O’Rourke of Fianna Fáil and John Dolan of Fine Gael, were part of the legal challenge.
Protests were held in Athlone over the plan to develop the accommodation for 1,000 international protection applicants in up to 150 tents, on a site to the rear of an existing direct provision centre in Lissywollen, Athlone.
It had been proposed that the tents would eventually be replaced with modular units.
Mr Hogan’s legal papers relied on similar grounds to one recently brought by a north Dublin group that secured a strike-down of a statutory instrument that had paved the way for 1,000 international protection applicants on a State-owned site near Dublin Airport.
Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman contested Mr Hogan’s case.
Mr Hogan wanted an order either pausing or quashing the statutory instrument the Minister made for the Athlone site.
The instrument confirmed the project did not need An Bord Pleanála approval and noted Mr O’Gorman was satisfied two specific EU law environmental assessments did not need to be conducted before proceeding with the plan.
Mr Hogan claimed the Minister failed to adequately screen the project for potential environmental impacts and that he lacks the expertise to carry out such assessments.
There were also deficiencies in the assessment of wastewater requirements and effect on traffic, Mr Hogan claimed.
He claimed the occupants would be free to move about and will “inevitably cause a significant traffic hazard and a health and safety issue” next to the site and along the road.
In an affidavit, Mr Hogan said local councillors were informed about the Government’s plan on 7 October and had “no prior consultation or communication” from the Department of Integration.
He submitted that Athlone has a long tradition of providing accommodation and support to people seeking international protection, with one of the first direct provision centres in the State constructed on the adjoining Lissywollen site in 2001.
Mr Hogan submitted that he and other members of Westmeath County Council believed the proposed development would be “prejudicial to public health” as local health services are already overburdened.
Speaking this evening, Mr Hogan who was the plaintiff in the case, said this is step in the right direction and the finer detail will become clearer in the coming days.
Fianna Fáil councillor Aengus O’Rourke has said that the case shows that “the state can’t just run roughshod over a community without consulting with the democratic process”.
He said it sends a strong message to Government, adding that he hopes “they are listening”.
Mr Keena thanked the local community for their support while Mr Dolan said it showed what councillors could do “working together”.
