Councillors want enforcement action against State over condition of former Athlone IPAS site

The four Athlone councillors who brought a successful court challenge against the hugely controversial International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre in Lissywollen are now seeking to initiate enforcement action that would compel the State to return the site to its original condition.

Their call for enforcement proceedings to be undertaken came at a Westmeath County Council meeting on Monday, shortly after the councillors said they'd been given "clear and unambiguous" assurances that Athlone was not being considered for a new IPAS centre.

Their statement was issued last Friday in the aftermath of a recent meeting involving two of the councillors, Frankie Keena and Aengus O'Rourke, with Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan.

The councillors said the Minister told them "he has no plans whatsoever to open an IPAS centre in Athlone, and, furthermore, that he has no intention of opening any new IPAS centres nationally".

This echoes comments made in March by Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer' Moran who told the Westmeath Independent that "Athlone is not being considered at this time (for a new IPAS centre), and I've been assured of that."

At Monday's council meeting, councillors O'Rourke, Keena, John Dolan, and Paul Hogan jointly put forward a motion noting that, on foot of their legal action, the High Court has now "quashed the Ministerial Statutory Instrument that provided the legal basis for the Midland Accommodation Centre" in Lissywollen, Athlone.

They said this decision had the effect of rendering the IPAS centre an unuthorised development.

Their joint motion urged the council to initiate enforcement action against the State to immediately remove "all unauthorised structures, services and associated works and to carry out a full reinstatement of the lands to their original greenfield condition”.

A response on behalf of council management said an "enforcement file" would be opened "in respect of the site at Lissywollen" and inspections would be carried out by the planning enforcement section "as a priority" with a view to fully investigating the site's current status.

Cllr Keena described the High Court case against the State over the Athlone IPAS centre as "unprecedented" and said it had resulted in a "David versus Goliath" victory for the local representatives.

"In taking this case we were told that we were wasting our time, that we'd end up losing our homes as that the State would win. But we stuck to our objective and our convictions and we succeeded," he said.

He said initiating enforcement proceedings to restore the site to its original condition was a "necessary and proportionate" action in light of the High Court win.

Cllr Hogan said the decision to establish the IPAS centre had been "foisted" on Athlone by the Department of Integration, without any "meaningful engagement" with the community or elected members.

Referring to the High Court challenge, he said: "On December 17, 2024, the Chief State Solicitor's office contacted our legal team to say (the State had) conceded the case, but yet they decided to keep us in the court for another 14 months, at the taxpayers' expense essentially."

In the future, he said the councillors hoped to see the site rezoned for sporting and recreation use.

"I know other people have different views, but our rationale for that is there are many sports clubs, across all codes, looking for playing space that we cannot provide at this time," he said.

Timing of Athlone IPAS announcement

Cllr Aengus O'Rourke brought up the timing of the Government's announcement, in October 2024, about setting up the Athlone IPAS centre. He said an email from the Department of Integration's community engagement team, in relation to the centre, had been sent "the day after" the passing of his mother, former Government Minister Mary O'Rourke.

"At the time people said that's a cynical move, that's rehearsed. I didn't really believe it, but as time has moved on I do see it as being strategic at the time," said Cllr O'Rourke.

"While Athlone was somewhat distracted by her passing, and political people and elected representatives were somewhat distracted by it, this email came out from the community engagement team."

He laid the blame for the Athlone IPAS centre controversy squarely at the feet of the current leader of the Green Party.

"This whole business is or was the brainchild of one Roderic O'Gorman, who went full bore at this crazy scenario where it was right to shoehorn 1,000 men into a field in the middle of Athlone. Absolute lunacy," said Cllr O'Rourke.

"He was the then-Minister for Integration, he's now the leader of the Greens, and they are welcome to him."

The four councillors' motion was unanimously supported by their colleagues at the meeting and was formally seconded by Cllr Tom Farrell.

Cllr Farrell said the Department had "bulldozed" through the idea for the IPAS centre and had essentially told the local councillors that its establishment was "a fait accompli".

The case "changed the whole tone of how the Department acted after that," said Cllr Farrell. "They did start listening to the local councillors, to the council and to the community."

Exchanges over Boxer's involvement

There were some tense exchanges at the council meeting when Independent Athlone councillor John Gibbons, a political ally and former campaign manager of Minister Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, referred to 'Boxer' being involved at the outset of the successful High Court action over the IPAS centre.

Cllr Gibbbons said the site's use as an IPAS centre had been "halted" due to the "benchmark" legal case which, he agreed, had "changed the way the Department interacts" with local communities.

"It was a welcome decision. I note the response from the executive in relation to enforcement matters and look forward to that site being cleaned up and whatever zoning matters that will come before a meeting again to decide on the future of the site," said Cllr Gibbons.

"Just as a correction, I suppose. Cllr Keena said it was four members who brought the case. As far as I'm aware it was five members who brought the case, and four members did the heavy lifting on it as the case went on," said Cllr Gibbons.

This was in reference to then-councillor 'Boxer' Moran being part of the original announcement of the High Court action in November 2024.

Cllr Keena responded by saying he "didn't want to bring politics into this, but I think the door has been opened," by Cllr Gibbons.

"When this case was initially taken it was three or four weeks before the general election and we did have, at the time, Cllr Moran," Cllr Keena said at the meeting on Monday.

"There were five of us involved at the time, but when Cllr Moran became a TD and a Minister he didn't engage with us. He actually walked away from us, and I think that's not good enough.

"He had the power at the time, through his (role as) Minister for the OPW, to stop the contract (for the IPAS centre) through the licensing agreement (between the Department and the OPW which owned the Athlone site)."

Cllr Hogan added: "It would have been much more pleasant if Cllr Gibbons had just congratulated the four members who did all of the heavy lifting."

He reiterated Cllr Keena's argument that as Minister for the OPW, 'Boxer' Moran could have ended the licence agreement for the use of the Lissywolllen site as an IPAS centre.

"He had the power to revoke the licence way back when he became Minister in February 2025, but allowed us to continue in the court for another 13 or 14 months in addition to that. He is the only one who can answer why he didn't revoke it," said Cllr Hogan.

"He let us stay above in the High Court at the taxpayers' expense, didn't come back in to back us, never said anything publicly in the papers, had the power to get rid of it, and didn't do that.

"And then, out today to say we're going to try to hang on the coattails of the four councillors that did all of the heavy lifting. Not going to happen," said Cllr Hogan.

Last August, 'Boxer' Moran issued a statement in which he said he was legally compelled to withdraw from the High Court case when he became a member of the Government.

"When I became a Minister, I was legally required to withdraw from the case. As part of the Government, I can’t be involved in legal action against it. But my commitment to the community and to this issue hasn’t changed," he said in August.