Mayo town 'cannot accommodate another IPAS centre', councillor says
Fine Gael’s Alma Gallagher tells Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District she is “totally against” proposed Ballyhaunis development
A Fine Gael councillor has said Ballyhaunis cannot take on another International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre, as a planning application for the town draws objections from local business and community groups.
IPAS centres accommodate people applying for international protection in Ireland.
Cllr Alma Gallagher told the monthly meeting of the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District that, as a local representative, she was “totally against” the proposed development and asked her fellow councillors to back her.
Planning application
The application, by Bridgestock Care Limited, seeks permission for 32 accommodation units at the Old Convent Accommodation Centre in Ballyhaunis, as first reported by The Mayo News in November 2025. At the time, Ballyhaunis Chamber of Commerce and local community representatives said a detailed submission objecting to the plan was being prepared.
Cllr Gallagher said Mayo County Council received further information from the developer on 25 September, which was deemed “substantial” and triggered a new consultation period. That period closed the day before the meeting. The CEO of Ballyhaunis Chamber of Commerce coordinated a response to the council, which she urged the authority to treat “at a very, very serious level”.
“Serious inadequacies”
Cllr Gallagher said the response identified “serious, serious inadequacies” in the information submitted by the developer. She said these include:
- No letter confirming an agreement or commitment from the relevant government department to use the development as temporary IPAS accommodation
- No full road safety audit
- No compliance statement under the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets
- No pre-connection inquiry report from Uisce Éireann
- Concerns about bin storage, and about the scale, size and density of the development
She also said the submitted sections show the development would overshadow existing dwellings and “dominate the skyline” of the town, and that the photomontages are inaccurate and contradict the site sections. Car parking was “totally inadequate”, she said, and not wheelchair accessible.
Cllr Gallagher also criticised the application’s reliance on a single example of a similar development, granted planning permission five years ago in a different county. That permission was granted in Sligo town, which has a population of 20,608, compared with 2,773 in Ballyhaunis.
She argued that other large-scale accommodation uses nearby mean there is an “overconcentration” and a loss of use mix, contrary to the Mayo County Development Plan’s objectives for balanced community and settlement vitality.
“Enough is enough”
“We have over 250 IPAS applicants already residing in the IPAS centre, and the town cannot accommodate another IPAS centre,” Cllr Gallagher told the meeting.
She acknowledged that the planning process “has to happen”, but said she wished to confirm on behalf of the town’s residents and community organisations that “we are totally against this development”. She added that she trusted the council’s planning section would take the comments on board.
Her Fine Gael colleague, Cllr Neil Cruise backed her remarks, saying he had received representations on the issue. “I think enough is enough is the phrase that would suit this one,” he said.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme