A group of Westmeath County Councillors have welcomed an adjournment in a challenge to a plan to house around 1,000 male asylum seekers in tented accommodation in Athlone, which has been conceded by the State, but say substantive environmental and planning issues remain.
Protests were held in Athlone over the plan to erect up to 150 army-style tents for 1,000 asylum seekers, 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.
At the High Court on Monday lawyers for Cllr Paul Hogan, who brought the challenge against the expedited plan, said the case had been conceded by the State and that the development would be deemed “unauthorised”.
On Thursday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys adjourned the matter to January 27th.
In a statement, the Athlone councillors behind the challenge said that while the case had been conceded “on a narrow basis”, the State are “yet to engage with some of what we feel are, our even stronger grounds for judicial review”.
“While we have been informed that the site will remain in operation until there is a final determination by the court, the State confirmed that all works on the site in Lissywollen will cease this Friday (December 20th).
“Accordingly the court has adjourned the matter until January 27 in order to tease this out in more detail.
“We welcome this decision as it now gives us a potential opportunity to have all our wider issues of concern heard in full by the High Court.”
The group says that there remain “substantive environmental and planning issues that deserve further consideration”.
The statement is signed by Mayor Frankie Keena, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, Cllr John Dolan and Cllr Hogan who brought the challenge.
At the High Court on Monday, Oisin Collins SC with David O’Brien BL, instructed by solicitors PB Cunningham & Co, for Cllr 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 classified as an unauthorised development".
In his challenge, Mr Hogan, who secured 4.8 per cent of first preference votes running for Independent Ireland in Longford-Westmeath in the recent General Election, claimed the ministerial process providing for the plan was unlawful, irrational and a breach of fair procedures.
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 Roderick 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 environmental assessments under EU law 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.
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.
