Business in Tipperary village to withhold rates in protest over asylum seekers in hotel

Businesses in the Dundrum area are withholding their commercial rates in protest of the Dundrum House Hotel being transformed into an IPAS centre, Tipperary Live is told.

Protests have been ongoing outside the gates to the hotel for a number of weeks, with many members of the community concerned about the IPAS centre.

According to a business owner in the locality, some businesses are taking a stand against the plans for the centre by withholding their commercial rates until further notice.

Speaking with Tipperary Live, Peter O’Dwyer, of PP O’Dywer’s Hardware in Dundrum, says around 20 businesses have signed a petition to join this movement.

“There’s a petition signed by over 20 and all but one of those businesses will commit to not paying the rates going forward,” he said.

One of his main concerns is that he thinks the influx is too large to properly integrate them into the local community, and he fears they may not be able to contribute to the local economy.

“I just can’t see how these will contribute positively to the local economy, they can’t work, they just have nothing to do, there’s no resources, there’s no real transport infrastructure, there’s no health services in the locality, it's just, what’s coming down the line really is the fright of the unknown like, we’re all just fearing for our businesses, so, to give a stance against it, against local council and to give us a stance against this and that, we just have to withhold the rates like, we think it’s the biggest thing we can do as a community.”

When asked about possible legal complications, Peter said that he is less concerned about any legal problems and more concerned with ensuring the community is safe.

“Well like, legal activity or no legal activity like, the fear among the community is we won’t have any business in a couple of years, like who’s going to come to Dundrum to do their business when there’s up to 300 people around the village with nothing to do like, like there’s nothing for them to do, they will be just hanging around the village, and that’s all, you know, they’re undocumented people like, they could be anybody, could be from all walks of life, religions, how are we going to integrate them, you know?”