Residents of Dundrum village in Co Tipperary have gone to the High Court in a bid to challenge any attempt to use a local hotel to house asylum seekers.
The group of about thirty people were in the Four Courts as they came before the court giving notice of an intention to seek injunctions and mount a legal challenge against a provision of the Planning and Development Regulations.
The local hotel, Dundrum House Hotel, for the last two years has accommodated Ukrainian refugees and locals are objecting to any continued use of the hotel to house International Protection Applicants.
They want to stop the use of the Planning and Development (exempted Development) regulations of 2023 which allows buildings to be used to house International Protections Applicants.
They also want an injunction stopping the former mansion and estate Dundrum House Hotel being used to house International Protection Applicants.
A round the clock demonstration which began outside the hotel in late May is continuing.
The country mansion and estate has recently housed Ukrainian refugees. Protests outside the hotel began as locals voiced concerns that it would be turned into a facility for International Protection Applicants, with some in the area claiming hundreds could be moved in to the hotel and self-catering accommodation.
In the High Court on Monday, Patrick McGreal from Westmeath, who has mounted proceedings against the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, sought to have “the people of Dundrum” included in the title of the action.
He said the community had a substantial interest in the proceedings.
Ms Justice Niamh Hyland told the group it was not possible to amend the title of the proceedings as requested as “the people of Dundrum” were not a legal entity.
The judge told the group they were at the very beginning of a process which is highly regulated, and she said that everything had to be put on affidavit and filed with the court.
She adjourned the matter to come before the court again on Wednesday next.
Two years ago, locals in Dundrum welcomed 277 Ukrainian refugees to Dundrum House Hotel.
Locals claim a Government briefing note sent to local political representatives on May 29 last said that hotel was now a "hybrid property", meaning it would accommodate International Protection Applicants as well as the Ukrainian refugees under the Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection Programme.
