IPAS court case: Councillors triumphant on ‘a good day for Athlone’

Summing up the High Court action which he and his colleagues had undertaken, Athlone councillor Frankie Keena put it in Biblical terms.

"From the start, I have compared this case to the legend about David versus Goliath," he said.

"We were four councillors taking a High Court case against the State, which had an endless pit of taxpayers' money to contest the case against us."

The Fianna Fáil representative was speaking at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel on Saturday afternoon.

In front of a gathering of local media and members of the public, he and his colleagues, Paul Hogan, Aengus O'Rourke, and John Dolan, warmly welcomed the ruling the previous day in their legal challenge against the State's decision to set up a 1,000-person temporary International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre in a field next to the long-established direct provision centre in Lissywollen.

A joint statement read out by Cllr Aengus O'Rourke said: "Yesterday marked a very important day for Athlone, for our community, and for the rule of law in this country.

"The High Court formally quashed the Minister’s Section 181 order relating to the use of the Lissywollen site as an IPAS accommodation centre. The court found that the Minister had acted outside the law - and in doing so, the judge vindicated what we and the people of Athlone have said from the very beginning."

The statement noted that a four-month stay had been put on the judge's order in the case. "Once that stay expires on March 7, 2026, unless new legislation is in place, the development will stand in breach of planning and environmental law.

"We have no confidence that the Government can produce such complex retrospective legislation within that timeframe - especially given its repeated delays and excuses over the past year," the councillors stated.

"In truth, that kind of legislation could take years to draft, debate, and pass through committee, Seanad and Dáil - if it ever passes at all. We doubt it very much."

The councillors' statement said the court ruling was "not just a win for us as councillors or as citizens - it is a victory for the people of Athlone, for due process, and for the fundamental principle that no Minister and no Government is above the law.

"From the very start, we stood with our community, insisting that planning laws exist to protect everyone - residents, service providers, and future generations.

"The Government arrogantly tried to sidestep those laws, ignored local voices, and denied local representatives any meaningful engagement.

"Instead, it ploughed ahead, disregarding planning and environmental protections, and built an unlawful development in Lissywollen. Yesterday, the court made it clear: it must come down.

"Yesterday was a good day for Athlone - and a very good day for democracy. The Lissywollen site is empty, the tents are gone, the order is quashed, and the law has finally prevailed."

The councillors statement - which was met with a standing ovation from the members of the public in attendance - said they would now be seeking to rezone the lands on which the IPAS centre was established for leisure and sporting use.

Responding to questions, Cllr John Dolan emphasised that the legal action had not been motivated by anti-immigrant sentiment.

With his arm in a sling, he said: "I was in hospital yesterday, and if I had been waiting for Irish people to look after me I would still be in there... So we are not opposed to immigration, we need immigration, but it has to be done in the right way".

He added: "As I said in a radio interview before, if this was a centre in Athlone for 1,000 single men from Mayo I would have been just as opposed to it."

Cllr Aengus O'Rourke said the year-long legal case was "not without its disappointing trips to Dublin" and he felt the process should have moved more quickly.

"It seemed like the Government were hell bent on trying to stop the Titanic from sinking, even though the dogs in the street knew this ship was going down," he said.

"It was a hopeless situation (for the Government) from the start. So, questions will need to be asked in relation to the waste of taxpayers' money, in dragging this, and us, through the courts for twelve months."

However, he felt that the outcome of the case could lay down a marker in terms of future Government policy in this area. "I wouldn't underestimate the influence that the outcome of this case will have on Government thinking," he remarked.

Cllr Keena added that the councillors intend to submit a Freedom of Information request to the Department "to look for a full breakdown of all costs that the State has spent on this unauthorised site," which, he said, should make for "interesting reading".

We asked what gave the councillors confidence that Friday's ruling would mean the end of the Lissywollen site's use as an accommodation centre, Cllr Hogan said: "As of March 7, this will be an unauthorised development, on a site that is subject to mandatory environmental assessments.

"The legislation that (the Government is) trying to produce is next to impossible. What they're trying to do is to introduce a mechanism by retrospective legislation, by substitute consent, to obtain regularisation of a site that is subject to an environmental impact assessment.

"How do you carry out an environmental assessment after the works have already been done on site? It's not possible," said Cllr Hogan.

"They're trying this legislation in other associated fields and it failed, and the European Court of Justice went against the State... So I suppose that's our confidence in terms of this."

One of the members of the public in attendance was former Labour councillor Jim Henson. Speaking from the floor, he said the legal action brought by councillors Hogan, O'Rourke, Keena and Dolan had "changed politics" by showing what local representatives could achieve.

"I hope the four lads at that top table will never be forgotten," he said.