The D Hotel, Drogheda to house international protection applicants

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776910#Comment_121776910

Yes, I agree it is not good for tourism and at the very least the govt should compensate the local economy.

But even that only goes so far. No point compensating the bar for a fleadh trad set when the bar is empty because there is no accomodation.

Next year there wont be a Fleadh.

There are some hotels used in Dublin for asylum seekers, but the majority are not and I do know some hotels in Dublin that hosted asylum seekers have returned to tourism.

Remember its up to the hotel owners whether they sign the deal with the govt or not to host asylum seekers & the rural hoteilers seem quicker to do this than the Dublin owners.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121774767#Comment_121774767

What are the main problems with Drogheda?

I live in Dublin but have never been. Never seen a reason to go tbh. But I assumed it was a decent enough town.

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776985#Comment_121776985

Most of the retail units have moved out of the centre of the town leaving a lot of derelict buildings that are an eyesore. Traffic management and parking are brutal

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777010#Comment_121777010

Is that due to retailers moving to out of town centres where rent is cheaper and unit size larger?

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777014#Comment_121777014

Probably, but only this week marks and Spencer announced they are shutting down they would have been one of the anchor tenants in one of the town centre shopping centres

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777024#Comment_121777024

Yes, I saw that one. Very sad news as things like that are often the death knell for a town but then I wonder are the rents charged too high.

Also lots of folks shop online now and then wonder why shops close.

We will probsbly get to the stage where only tourist cities and towns have retail, because they are the only places that have constant footfall and people out to spend.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776985#Comment_121776985

The main town centre is a traffic bottleneck and efforts to fix it have made it worse. Traffic from Drogheda port travelling to Dublin has to pass through the town. Traffic lights, a one way system and lack of parking mean that it's quite difficult to get anywhere. The new courthouse took over one of the main carparks a few years back.

Drogheda is a commuter town, and it's retail parks and proximity to Dublin, the Pavillions, even Newry mean that most people don't need to travel to the town centre.

For a small town, it has (had) four town centre shopping centers. The Abbey was always a dump and that closed, but the remaining three have not been at full capacity in maybe 10 years.

There was always an anti social element in the town, but this seems to have gotten worse in the past while. Traveller feuds, the direct provision centre in Mosney, a lot of people from certain areas in Northside of Dublin were relocated to Drogheda.

The town centre has gotten very dilapidated and Narrow West Street, which leads to the main street is completely shuttered and abandoned. A lot of streets feeding into the main street have empty units.

It has a decent pub scene and a few good restaurants, but there's no real star attraction to Drogheda like some other towns. As a location to live, it's fine for commuters to Dublin. There are plenty of nice villages and beaches around it.

whelan2

If you were at an event in drogheda and wanted to stay overnight you'd be very limited were you could stay. I've stayed in the d hotel. Found it very good with excellent staff and food

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777095#Comment_121777095

Thanks. An interesting picture.

What do you think would help revive the town?

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777136#Comment_121777136

A bulldozer

holliehobbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776910#Comment_121776910

Are you saying D8 is posh now? We’re getting loads of build to rent apartments so I’m sure we’ll have loads of people being housed by the government paying their HAP as no one else can afford the crazy rents charged by these companies!

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777024#Comment_121777024

Most likely M&S are closing as a result of Brexit, just as many other British chains have exited the Irish market.

I seem to remember about 20 years ago they closed all there shops in Europe as their produce was too dowdy to be of interest. In this context, I find the love so many well-off Irish people have for the chain to be a bit odd. But then maybe many of them spend their evenings watching the BBC and have never travelled further than London, apart from summer holidays with the kids on some Costa or other.

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777095#Comment_121777095

To add to this, other random examples....

You cannot get a dentist on the medical card system in town. Despite it being one of the poorer areas in Ireland, and having a lot of people needing that help, not one dentist in town is taking on new medical card patients. I used to get medical card treatments with Smiles, but they stopped taking them over Covid, and actually just shut down entirely.

It's a two year wait to sign up with a new GP practice. I read an article the other day that we have one of the worst rates of being able to get an appointment in a decent time frame in the country.

There was an IDA park, that was built and designed to bring hundreds of jobs to the town. The land was then given to Amazon for data centers, that created barely any jobs.

AFAIK, Louth County Council operates out of Dundalk, and the people in Drogheda actually have bugger all power to do much.

There's a boat sitting in the Boyne, heavily polluting it. It's been sitting in the docks for years, cause the company who owned it went out of business. It sank a few months ago, and the ecological damage its doing is profound. But it's just been left there, cause the owners won't pay to move it, and no government agency seems willing to help with the situation.

Massive drug problems, a scary suicide rate among young people (which never gets attention cause we are terrified of that discussion here in Ireland), the usual housing issues....it's a death by a million cuts.

Dr. Greenthumb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121771972#Comment_121771972

I'd be interested to see proof of that occupancy level. Most hotels operate on 65 - 75% occupancy with spikes when big events happen in the locality. In the past when working on feasibility studies for hotels a occupancy rate above 65% on average would have to be justified.

If it was operating at that level of occupancy, what motivation would there be to switch it to house refugees?

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777213#Comment_121777213

The center had massive issues when it opened 20 years ago.

The location is hard to access, the car parks were horrifically built, the interior layout was shocking (Shaws takes effort to get to from M&S) and the selection of shops was super poor. Shops like M&S struggle with a more traditionally poorer town. It's genuinely one of the most frustrating shopping centers I've ever visited.

Even before Brexit, the center was half empty, in terms of filled units. And apparently they were told rent was increasing shortly too.

Yeah, Brexit would have hurt but its absolutely not the main cause of their problems. I'd take a mad guess that whatever contract they signed when they went in has just run out, and they'd been counting down the days they could abandon it for over a decade.

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121776944#Comment_121776944

When it runs out the hotel owners will have the government over a barrel, the price will double and Paddy and Pauline taxpayer will be stuck with the bill

Purple Mountain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777220#Comment_121777220

That's sobering

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777234#Comment_121777234

Add to that the flooding of their store last year

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777151#Comment_121777151

And a dedicated drugs squad/eru unit. Town is awash with drugs and drug gangs.

enricoh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777230#Comment_121777230

Hotel spokesman on Pat Kenny this morning - they were made an offer they couldn't refuse. The hotel was sold late last year, the underbidder has hundreds of refugees also.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_sqatLbwTwI&t=5s

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777213#Comment_121777213

M&S is still doing well across other parts of the country.

It has closed stores in the UK also.

If the store doesnt perform, it closes.

Nkt sure what the BBC has to do with anything.

Do you think people that shop in Zara only drink sangria?

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777284#Comment_121777284

I think I was trying to point to a profile of person that is likely to shop in M&S, but that might have gone whooooosh.

M&S tried to enter the European market in the late 80s/90s but ended up leaving again because their clothing is aimed at a particular sector of the British market, a sector that doesn't exist anywhere else in Europe; at the time of them closing I remember a comment made in one European publication that the only worthwhile products in M&S were in the lingerie department - the rest of their clothing was considered 'dowdy'. A certain cohort of Irish people like M&S, perhaps because they have spent time living in Britain and became accustomed to the M&S look, or perhaps because they are culturally British, which of course is their right. Hopefully this clarifies matters for you.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777393#Comment_121777393

It clarifies that you are essentially clueless, yes.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777270#Comment_121777270

I felt sorry for the lady who works in the hospital. The current government are truly fuxxing this country. You can't get hold of a doctor. If you have a medical card forget about seeing a dentist. Schools are heaving and Preschools are closing. And what's happening? The country is being flooded with thousands and thousands of people and every one of them is handed accommodation, welfare and a medical card.

How will our system cope with this?

I wonder will the locals support the D hotel after this? I have seen in a town near us a hotel that never provided accommodation closed its bar and restaurant to the locals to be filled to the rafters and in the first week the riot squad and five garda cars had to turn up to sort out a melee. Now locals do not feel safe at local lake areas and forest walks.

I find it very insulting that public money is paying for this but they believe the public do not have a right to know how much.

deirdremf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777402#Comment_121777402

Ah, I detect an M&S shopper.

Enjoy yer tweeds and pearls.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777803#Comment_121777803

I shall try :)

whelan2

If you didn't know the area to get into the carpark of the d hotel is a nightmare. Then the traffic lights coming back out are tough going. Not very tourist friendly

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777843#Comment_121777843

What are the buses like? Can people easy get into the town that way?

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777284#Comment_121777284

I think Drogheda’s proximity to Newry doesn’t help either, you can go over the border and get the same M&S stuff for a lot less than in the Drogheda store.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777899#Comment_121777899

Very true. Sterling prices are much better generally, so anyone on the border is likley to shop in the north I guess.