Roderic O’Gorman rules out ‘dual use’ of D Hotel in Drogheda for asylum seekers and tourists over child safety concerns
Mr O’Gorman has definitively ruled out the so-called dual use proposal in a letter to public representatives in Louth that was issued on Saturday afternoon. The dual use proposal had been floated by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last month in response to local concerns about the D Hotel in the Louth town being used entirely to accommodate asylum seekers, stripping Drogheda of more than half of its tourist beds.
Up to 500 people are expected to be housed in the D Hotel in the coming days with the first arrivals early next week as part of a two-year deal contract between the hotel operator and the Department of Integration.
“From a child safeguarding point of view, there are significant issues associated with either dual use option,” Mr O’Gorman said in his letter to public representatives.
“By operating a hotel as dual purpose IPAS residents would be exposed to more risk or potential harm due to the constant throughput of commercial customers arriving in the hotel and it would be substantially more difficult for the mandated person to manage child protection.”
Mr O’Gorman also writes that a new round of the community recognition fund will be announced shortly and that the Government is working on a new strategy to “ensure that we do not rely on private hotels to accommodate those seeking refuge in the future”.