Government lost €2m on asylum seeker site

THE Government has been criticised for making a loss of over €2 million on a former hotel in Co Cork which it earmarked, but never used, as an asylum-seeker centre.

Deputy Jim O’Keeffe, Fine Gael spokesman on Justice, said he couldn’t understand how the State could lose so much money when property prices are at an all-time high.

The Government bought the former Lynch’s Lodge Hotel in Macroom, Co Cork, in October, 2000.

“The hotel was purchased as an integration centre to house asylum seekers ... Unfortunately for the taxpayer, it appears the department never consulted with the local authorities about its plans, and it was refused planning permission to use the hotel as an integration centre,” Mr O’Keeffe said yesterday.

The hotel was bought for €3,549,711 in October 2000, and sold for €2,300,010 last December, representing a loss of €1,249,701. A further €808,200 was spent on security and other costs for the empty hotel over the five-year period.

“When you add the €17,500 cost of disposing of the property last December, the State made a total loss of €2,075,401. This is an extraordinary waste of taxpayers’ money, but it also shows the cavalier attitude of the Fianna Fáil/PD Government. Only this Government would be able to lose money on a valuable property during a period of unprecedented property growth in which prices have more than doubled,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

He made his comments after receiving information, through a Dáil question, from the minister in charge of the Office of Public Works, Tom Parlon.

Mr Parlon confirmed that the sale of Lynch’s Lodge Hotel is due to close early next month. He added that the cost of advertising and other expenses associated with the sale are not yet available.

“If we cannot trust this Government with something as simple as an integration centre, how can we trust it to fight crime, run the health service, and resource the education system?” Mr O’Keeffe asked.

“Clearly the Department of Justice made a rushed decision to buy Lynch’s Lodge Hotel without checking whether it would get planning permission. I also have to question the wisdom of selling the property at such a huge loss, even if the State was having to pay for security,” he said.

Mr O’Keefe said Justice Minister Michael McDowell, who paid six times the value for Thornton Hall in Co Dublin last year to build the new Mountjoy prison, has further explaining to do in relation to this “latest waste” of taxpayers’ money.