Laois village threatens protest if council grants planning for IPAS centre

Objectors to a proposed IPAS centre in a Laois village have suggested that they will take their campaign to the gates of County Hall should planning permission be granted.

The sentiment was expressed at a public meeting held in Durrow on Monday evening, November 9, concerning plans for an International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre in the village.

On October 16, 2026, Durrow publican Marc Lennon lodged a fresh planning application with Laois County Council to alter the use of Lennon’s Bar on Mary Street, Durrow. Mr Lennon seeks to use the premises “as accommodation for International Protection Applicants only.” The application includes provisions for nine bedrooms with 33 bedspaces.

Mr Lennon previously submitted an application in July 2025 to alter the use of Lennon’s Bar for IPAS accommodation. The application was met with strong local opposition in Durrow, with residents convening public meetings and establishing a fundraising page to finance the services of a planning consultant. The proposal was approved by Laois County Council alongside a similar development at Peader’s Bar, Mary Street. Durrow Community Council and Durrow Development Forum appealed Laois County Council’s decision to the national planning appeals body An Coimisiún Pleanála, which overturned it.

On foot of the new application, approximately 120 members of the public attended the meeting at the Castle Arms Hotel, on November 9, which was organised by Durrow Community Council.

Members of Durrow Community Council were joined on a panel by Laois Councillors Ollie Clooney, James Kelly and John King, Laois TDs Willie Aird, Sean Fleming and Brian Stanley and Laois Senator Maria McCormack.

Durrow Community Council urged the public to make submissions objecting to the planning application, and distributed guidance on how to make a submission. “We had 129 individual objections the last time, so we’re looking to double that,” said Durrow Community Council treasurer Siobhan Aylward.

The prevailing themes of the discussion were exasperation at the plans being reinitiated, the capacity of Durrow’s social infrastructure, security concerns about the prospective centre and its residents, and queries about how the plans would affect Ukrainians currently residing in one of Mr Lennon’s premises.

An Coimisiún Pleanála refused the previous application on two bases: It found that the proposed layout would result in “substandard accommodation” for future occupants, and it was unsatisfied that there were adequate social infrastructure facilities in Durrow to cater for the proposed development.

With his new application, Mr Lennon submitted a Community Audit, conducted by planning and property advisors RW Nowlan and Associates, that examined healthcare, childcare, education, sports and recreation, and community and cultural facilities in the area. Durrow Community Council has also retained a planning advisor, David Armstrong, who made a submission to Laois County Council on its behalf. Durrow Community Council’s submission denies that the new application overcomes the deficiencies highlighted by An Coimisiún Pleanála. It describes Mr Lennon’s revised Community Audit as “an inventory” which “records no contact with the school, the GP practices, the childcare providers or the HSE.”

At the meeting, one member of the public questioned if Durrow Community Council had itself gathered evidence to demonstrate that Durrow lacks the social infrastructure to support the proposed centre, asking: “Have you letters from the doctors and the schools to say that they can’t take any more capacity? [...] Do you have statistics, do you have numbers? Because that’s what they’re looking for.”

On the subject of social infrastructure, Deputy Brian Stanley said that a 20-unit social housing development under construction on the Derry Road will create additional demand for Durrow’s services. He said the Derry Road development is “not a bad thing in itself, but what the point is is that it doesn’t leave any slack or headroom for people coming into an IPAS centre here in town.”

Another member of the public said she had “strong” security concerns about the proposed centre, referring to a recent incident in Kerry. She asked if Durrow Community Council had included security considerations in its submission on the planning application, suggesting: “Gloves are off now, right?”

One of the panelists, a member of Durrow Community Council’s IPAS Committee, who preferred not to be named, responded: “That was one of the biggest concerns [at a previous public meeting], because the only things that are being reported on are the stabbings and the murders, but then what about the other stuff that’s happening that we’re not hearing about, and it’s all being kept locked indoors. So that is definitely a big point – that there’s not a full-time garda station in Durrow.”

A resident of Mary Street, where Lennon’s Bar is located, said: “We’re not mentioning the safety. There’s a school around the corner. Are these people – if this gets granted – are these people garda vetted? That’s what I’d like to know.”

One member of the public asked if, in the event that this application is refused, Mr Lennon can be precluded from submitting further applications. Deputy Sean Fleming said: “No, the quick answer is: You live in a free country, and people are entitled to apply again if they feel like it,” in a response that prompted murmured expletives in the hall.

A question from Durrow resident Conor Doyle also animated the crowd. Mr Doyle said: “I have a question here for all of the councillors and the TDs. You’re after saying there’s 129 submissions objecting to it. The last time there was a meeting in here, every councillor and TD said they were against it. [...] Have you ever seen a building getting the go-ahead with 129 objections plus the objections of the councils and TDs? Is there someone in the council that’s going along giving him advice? Or has he some little back channel in there? Because this stinks to high heavens.”

Deputy Willie Aird responded that he, Senator McCormack and Deputy Stanley are to attend a meeting at Laois County Council on Friday morning, November 13, with Chief Executive Michael Rainey, Director of Services for Planning Angela McEvoy, Director of Services for Housing Pamela Tynan and Director of Services for Infrastructure Simon Walton. “We’ll ask that question,” Deputy Aird said. “And we’ll bring the reply back to you here.”

Some members of the public voiced concern that the IPAS development would displace people from Ukraine currently residing in Peadar’s Bar. (According to Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration figures, Lennons Bar & Accommodation Laois currently houses 26 Ukrainians.) However, Mr Lennon’s contract with the Department for the housing of Ukrainians terminates on January 31, 2027, following the government’s decision to phase out state-supported accommodation for people from Ukraine. Ger Alley, Durrow Community Council Assistant Chair, assured the crowd that the government contract under which Ukrainians are currently being housed in Peadar’s Bar is “completely separate” from the IPAS planning application.

Even if Laois County Council grants planning permission and the application survives an appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála, Mr Lennon will need to secure a contract with the government to house international protection applicants. In 2024, the government announced a strategy to reduce its reliance on private providers and establish a state-owned core of accommodation. At the Durrow meeting, Laois’ Leinster House representatives affirmed that the government continues to pursue this strategy.

“The most recent update that I’ve got – and it was on the second of November – is still the Department of Justice has no plan to put an IPAS centre in there, but obviously the planning is still ongoing, and everyone can object,” said Senator Maria McCormack.

She urged the public to make submissions on the application, saying: “Make sure that you use your voice, and you do the objection, because if you don’t we’re going to stay going around on this merry-go-round. There isn’t enough doctors’ places. There isn’t enough school places. IPAS is not welcome here, and that’s just the end game.”

Deputy Stanley also said the government “doesn’t seem to be interested” in small IPAS centres housing 30-100 residents but continued that “we shouldn’t depend on that.” He said “we need to do everything we can to stop the planning permission, and I certainly will be objecting to it in the strongest possible terms.”

Deputy Aird said he spoke with Colin Brophy, Minister for State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, who informed him there was “no change whatsoever” in the government’s IPAS centre policy. Deputy Aird said he does not envisage a different outcome from Laois County Council on this occasion, saying he “would be confident that it will go to [An Coimisiún Pleanála] again.”

Ger Alley, Durrow Community Council Assistant Chair, alternatively said he “would be very, very surprised if the council give [planning permission],” continuing: “And I’d go probably as far as to say we’ll have to, if they did give it, we would do a demonstration outside County Hall.”

“It’s like a bad headache: it keeps coming back. But we have to stick together, that’s the important thing,” said Durrow Cllr Ollie Clooney. “We’ll fight this. We’ll either fight it locally, we’ll either fight it in Dublin, or we’ll fight it in Brussels. But we’ll stand together, and we’ll defeat this.”

Cllr Clooney said Durrow residents are “afraid of the unknown” continuing: “It’s easy for someone to say that the IPAS [centres] won’t come, but we are fearful.

“We have a lovely little town, we have great community, and we want to keep it like that.”

The planning permission application is due to be determined by Laois County Council on December 10.

The Leinster Express / Laois Live contacted Marc Lennon who declined to comment at this time.