Plans to house a number of asylum seekers in a Co Westmeath village appear to have been scrapped.
Locals in and around the village of Castletown Geoghegan had expressed concern about plans to move a number of people into a former hotel a short distance away.
It's understood that the plan was to accommodate up to 150 people at the hotel and local residents said that would cause a major increase in the population of a rural area which had no resources to cater for it.
A public meeting was held on the issue in March and residents also staged a protest outside the gates of Middleton Park House where it was planned to accommodate the asylum seekers.
Longford /Westmeath Deputy Peter Burke has issued a statement in the last 24 hours saying he's bene informed by Minister Rodric O' Gorman that the plans are not going ahead.
