Offaly reformatory 'not currently contracted' for refugee accommodation
THE former reformatory building in Daingean is not currently contracted by the government department which leases buildings for refugee accommodation.
Amid speculation that refugees from either the Ukraine war or other seeking international protection will be housed there, a spokesperson for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said: “This property is not currently contracted by the Department.”
The department statement has sparked further speculation that Daingean Reformatory, a former industrial school for boys, could be used for refugees in the future.
The future of the property was raised at a meeting of the Edenderry Municipal District on Wednesday by Cllr Liam Quinn.
Cllr Quinn said he had already written to the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Department of Justice and asked the County Council to do the same.
He said there were “an awful lot” of rumours going around as to what might happen at the building.
“I'm not going to spell them out here because I have no proof good, bad or indifferent. But the absence of information as to what the long-term plan for the reformatory is, isn't helping.”
He called on the council to ask the OPW specifically what the short and long term objectives are for the reformatory.
“It's currently being used as a warehouse for the museum. It's in very poor condition,” said Cllr Quinn.
“I would imagine to use it for anything for human habitation would need a huge amount of money. But it's the fact that there's work going on inside it raised all kinds of eyebrows.”
St Conleth’s Reformatory School for Boys was run as an industrial school by the Oblate order for the State until its closure in November 1973.
It accommodated more than 100 boys in a building which was originally a military barracks and dates from the early 1800s.
The National Museum of Ireland used it as a storage facility for a number of years for part of its Irish Folklife collection but some of the items were transferred to another of the museum's centres in Swords.
A former hotel and public house in Daingean, the Sportman's Inn, is already accommodating more than 30 people from Ukraine.
The OPW has also been asked to comment.