A disused hotel in Roscommon will accommodate 80 Syrian refugees for the next two years.
The relocated asylum seekers will be housed in the Abbeyfield Hotel in Ballaghaderreen and will begin to arrive in the coming weeks.
The Department of Justice has opened several Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres (EROCs) countrywide to accommodate people arriving in Ireland as part of the EU’s response to the migrant crisis in southern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Ireland has pledged to accommodate 4,000 over the next two years.
In correspondence seen by Shannonside FM, the department told Roscommon County Council chief executive Eugene Cummins that it has contracted the Ballaghaderreen hotel to be used as one of these centres for the next two years.
It will accommodate about 80 relocated asylum-seekers from Greece and possibly Italy, most of whom are from Syria, and they’re set to arrive later this month or in early February.
Mr Cummins has arranged a special meeting of the councils with councillors and department officials to take place at 11.30 this morning to discuss the ‘significant development’.
The Abbeyfield Hotel was opened about 12 years ago, but has been closed for several years.
However, in July 2015, it was bought by Combin Properties, care of the investment firm Remcoll Capital in Bandon, County Cork.
The property includes about 40 bedrooms and leisure facilities, including a swimming pool.
