The D Hotel, Drogheda to house international protection applicants

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773382#Comment_121773382

Is it any different to an Irish welfare scrounger getting accommodated in a hotel? I saw this in The Gresham before, tourists paying exorbitant rates to stay in a room next door to an irish national who has never contributed to the system, but expects a "forever home" from the state.

Or is your issue only with foreigners?

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773703#Comment_121773703

I wouldn't want to pay for hotel use when it is housing anyone long term in any circumstances, I do not think it is fair to paying guests

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773709#Comment_121773709

Then you'll be hard pressed to find places in Ireland unless you're in small hotels. Nearly all the large ones have some form of guest staying at the pleasure of the Irish taxpayer.

tom23

I’d be reluctant to buy. Nobody knows how long this is going to go on for.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773780#Comment_121773780

They should have notice about it on their website or inform guests when booking so they can decide then

ahnowbrowncow

Aside from all legitimate concerns locals have about this it really highlights the lack of transparency. Reports state that there's large discrepancies between contracts awarded. Last year the Crowne Plaza Dundalk was reportedly receiving €3,526 per asylum seeker per month whereas the Crowne Plaza in Blanchardstown was receiving €2,031. There's people on this thread who thought that hotels were only getting €800 per month.

As others have mentioned how are these contracts being awarded? No tender process needed during this 'emergency' so who is receiving these contracts? Why are the local politicians and residents only finding out months later after contract negotiations started?

How much will the hotel receive in grants to give it "a new lease of life" as the hotel owner's spokesperson said.

rdhma

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121772328#Comment_121772328

Incorrect. Jobseeker's Allowance is cut or eliminated above a threshold, no matter your nationality. You can look it up on state websites.

Also, you are surely aware that new arrivals will only be getting €38.80 per week.

whelan2

€70 per night per person is what the man on lmfm said yesterday.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773915#Comment_121773915

Ukrainian refugees don't get job seekers, they get a maintenance payment that is the same rate as jobseekers. That maintenance payment isn't means tested.

I'm aware thats cut now, only because it is so unsustainable.

pc7

So at €70 a night that over 12 and a half million a year for the hotel. (Going by the 500 figure be the men or families). Also the bullshit that jobs in hotel will be kept is a joke, as if they’ll still clean rooms daily, be a busy in the bar/function room. Not a hope.

Gaspode

Folks - second & final warning. If you are going to post figures on costs/payments or reports on who will be staying in the hotel, fate of staff etc then please quote your source.

A third warning will not be given.

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774075#Comment_121774075

What would the annual costs be to keep a hotel of that size open with full occupancy? Insurance, energy and staffing costs are not cheap

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774213#Comment_121774213

Definitely not, but guaranteed income for little to no effort must be fantastic news to any hotelier.

Pete Moss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121773382#Comment_121773382

The thing is there is huge difference in someone staying in a hotel and someone living there.

When we were staying at that hotel, there were refugees sitting about endlessly in corridors and common areas looking miserable and bored out of their mind. It definitely brought down the atmosphere of the place. Anyone using the hotel as a regular guest knew what was going on there.

I was in the bar and chatted to a few lads over from Scotland doing a bike tour across Ireland. They brought it up saying they found it uncomfortable. In all likelihood, they probably encountered the same issue in the next hotel they stayed in on their tour!

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774244#Comment_121774244

I stayed in the Clayton out in City West after a work do one night. We had maybe 4 rooms booked and we were put in Liffey Valley Suites, which is a separate block. It was obvious that a lot of the rooms had permanent residents, and there were black bags presumably full of possessions, and kids toys, prams and stuff in the corridors. I was in a room that had a door into the next room, and I could hear a whole family in next door. The rooms arent big, so god love them fitting a family and all their belongings into one room.

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774075#Comment_121774075

In fairness it would be a rarity the d hotel would be at full capacity

baldbear

Pat Kenny show discussing this now. 56% hotel beds gone from Drogeheda. The owners were offered a 2 year contract they could not refuse.

Rooms are for families. Local TDs trying to pedal the dual use hotel mantra, leave the bar and function room open.

A town with not a huge number of tourists with even less now is not a good thing.

combat14

some figures from May last year (im sure this is substantially increased now)

Government spending over €42 million on refugee accommodation centres

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/government-spending-over-e42-million-on-refugee-accomodation-centres-1478855.html#:~:text=The%20Government%20is%20spending%20more,asylum%20seekers%2C%20new%20figures%20reveal.

Lord TSC

Its great to see so much concern about Drogheda. So much activity discussing the damage it might do to the town.

I sincerely hope the same people who are upset by this development continue to show how much they care about the town in the future, rather than appearing because of the immigration nature of this specific topic, and then vanishing shortly when it dies down.

The reality is, this is simply a piece of straw onto the long broken camels back. The town has been abandoned by the ruling classes for over a decade (being kind), with abandoned shopping centers, a horrific lack of access to basic medical facilities, a lack of affordable housing, of amenities and a country wide attitude that constantly looks down it's nose on the town.

Adding 500 people into a town of 40k people won't make bugger all difference to the issues in the town, because those issues are already long past breaking point. Even if the 500 people didn't come to the town, the issues people are "worried" about already exist at a terrifying level. It's a drop in the ocean of suffering the town faces daily. The issue is not, nor has it ever been, the nature of the people who will join the population. It's a government, at multiple levels, who sees the town as a whipping boy, and has zero ambition to do anything to help.

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774231#Comment_121774231

I wouldn't say it is little or no effort - but obviously less effort than trying to compete for tourist business, marketing etc; and obviously a better return on investment or else they wouldn't be doing it. Which again is a reflection on the town itself - that the only significant hotel in the centre of the largest town in ireland has a better business as an IPA centre as opposed to a hotel.

Homer

Good luck to them in 2 years when the contract is up trying to return to operating as a hotel touting for corporate/wedding/events .. can’t see it ever returning to its previous business model after this

rdhma

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774069#Comment_121774069

I will quote directly from citizensinformation.ie page for Ukrainian arrivals.

"If you are under 66 and you are covered by the EU Temporary Protection Directive, you generally get a Jobseeker’s Allowance payment"

"You must always tell the Department of Social Protection if there is any change in your circumstances."

"You can use the benefit of work estimator to check if income from work, including part time work, will affect your social welfare payment."

Red Silurian

It beggars belief that after all the push-back they are getting from the use of hotels in Dungarvan, Killarney and Roscrea they turn around and do the exact same thing to kill off any tourism potential in Drogheda. I understand these people need places to stay but surely we could spread the cost out over all our industries and not be constantly looking to destroy tourism

People create security, having a direct provision site housing 500 people next door would give me more confidence to buy a place... Personal opinion, I understand not everybody would share it

JP Liz V1

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/drogheda-hotel-refugees-13-million-32141240

13 million

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121769311#Comment_121769311

 I've heard of a full hospital emergency department sitting there waiting for hours to be seen, only for a Ukrainian girl to walk in with high temperature, walk past the plebs and be seen straight away. I ve heard this from individual who was sitting in the room. Jaw dropped upon witnessing proceedings.

You do understand how hospital A&E departments triage patients, right?

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121775369#Comment_121775369

I see your point, but they have to be housed. So it isnt that the Govt are purposely targetting tourism, they are purposely tagetting accomodation.

I would like to see those local businesses recieve compensation however. Although its not the same as having actual tourism in your town.

fullstop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776653#Comment_121776653

Course he does, he’s just a wee bit racist and makes up stories to get people on board.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776681#Comment_121776681

Yes I agree we should help genuine war fleeing IAPs but Ireland is a small country and now tourist towns are being ripped apart, we are just taking too many

Drogheda is a Fleadh Ceol town so tourists whether Irish or International that it attracts would need accommodation

The government don't seem to think of services either being over stretched

I'm surprised no hotels in Dublin 2, 4, 6 or 8 isn't used, apologies if I'm wrong and they are used

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776681#Comment_121776681

They are taking the easy way out, hotels are much easier to retrofit for refugees. You're correct that they have to go somewhere, dedicated buildings or abandoned hotels instead of "live" ones would be two ways they could accommodate them without an attack on our tourism sector

timmyntc

When this deal runs out in 2 years time or so, do you really think that the current asylum seekers crisis will have abated?

If anything numbers applying will have increased by then, when word gets back to their home countries that you can get put up in a hotel in Ireland for months or more and even if your application is refused you won't get forcibly deported, it'll just encourage more.

These deals will all be renewed, the hotels are never coming back because the crisis will never end. Unless the state builds huge centers for asylum seeker accommodation, there will always be a need for hotels to accommodate them going forward