Carrick-on-Shannon's Bush Hotel is to accommodate Ukrainian refugees in the coming weeks.
The hotel recently changed management after 30 years.
After significant speculation in the last number of days, it has been confirmed that a small number of Ukrainian refugees will be accommodated at the Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon.
The hotel has recently changed management with the Dolan family handing over the running of the historic premises to the Hotels Properties Group.
The firm, which runs many hospitality businesses in Ireland and the UK, has confirmed to Shannonside FM that the hotel will continue to operate in the town and there will be no major changes.
Sheila O'Riordan, who is a group director of the firm and also a Carrick-on-Shannon native, has confirmed that the hotel will be "welcoming some Ukrainian families to stay in the hotel (and) they will occupy "only a few rooms in the Bush".
However, the remainder of the hotel will trade as normal and Ms O'Riordan says that they "look forward to continuing the work done by the Dolan family over the last 30 years."
Leitrim County Council this week confirmed that they were unaware of plans to accommodate Ukraine refugees at the hotel and suggested the local authority had "sufficient capacity with the existing providers of emergency accommodation for Ukrainian refugees to satisfy our current need."
They added that the situation was "fluid" and remains under review on a week by week basis.
It's understood that several hotels in the county are currently providing accommodation to Ukrainian refugees.
The Department of Equality has confirmed it is contracting temporary hotel accommodation across the country in order to accommodate people fleeing war in Ukraine as the need arises.
They claim that at present, "it is not possible to provide a list of hotels in Roscommon, Longford or Leitrim as hotels are being contracted at the moment and the list is likely to change quickly depending of arrivals from Ukraine arriving into the country on a daily basis."]
