Thornton Hall plan to house 1,000 asylum seekers thrown into doubt

The judicial review taken by residents living close to the Thornton Hall site argued that the order should not be allowed to stand as inadequate environmental screening had been performed at the rural site in advance of the establishment of a tented camp. File Photo: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The future of a proposed tented camp for 1,000 asylum seekers in north Dublin is in doubt after the Government agreed to quash the ministerial order which set the project in motion.

At the High Court on Monday the State said it would be revoking the ministerial order in response to a judicial review taken by residents living close to the Thornton Hall site. The State also agreed to pay the residents' costs.

The order was initially made by Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman in August. On Monday, counsel for the minister requested a two-week adjournment of the case to give time to revoke the order — a de facto concession of the action.

The judicial review, first lodged on October 5, argued that the order should not be allowed to stand as inadequate environmental screening had been performed at the rural site in advance of the establishment of a tented camp.

The move to use Thornton Hall was first announced early last summer as the Department of Integration came under pressure to source alternative accommodation for asylum seekers after months of tented encampments springing up in Dublin city centre.

However, the project has been hit by multiple environmental snags since, including the lack of a sewage connection on site and the fact that the proposed tents would be overflown by hundreds of low-flying aircraft departing Dublin Airport on a daily basis.

As recently as early October the department announced that some 40 asylum seekers would be in place on the site by the end of the month.

However, following the State’s concession of the High Court case the site is now unlikely to be used as accommodation for male asylum seekers any time soon, given the need for revised environmental assessments.

A spokesperson for the Department of Integration said its intention now is “to set aside the current Ministerial order, undertake some administrative updates, and develop a replacement order in the coming weeks”.

“Works on the site will remain paused while this is completed,” they added.

Coolquay Environmental and Development Group

The Coolquay Environmental and Development Group, the residents’ body which took the judicial review, welcomed the State’s decision and said the case had been taken “on environmental grounds only”.

“Since raising their concerns last May, residents have highlighted significant environmental issues that they felt were ignored by the relevant authorities,” a spokesperson said.

“Community members have expressed their frustration over the past five months as government ministers and representatives repeatedly stated in the media that a community engagement team was working with locals,” they said.

“Despite numerous meetings, not a single question from residents was answered, leaving many feeling unheard and dismissed. Frustrated by the lack of genuine engagement, the community felt they had no other choice but to initiate local fundraising efforts to finance legal action,” the spokesperson added.

The group called for “transparency” regarding the Thornton Hall project, and for the Government to provide “a detailed account” of the amount of money spent on the site to date.

“There is no main sewage connection, and yet no percolation tests for handling wastewater from the 1,000 individuals were performed,” one resident said.

“If you build a house in the country you have to do percolation tests, and that’s for just one house. They never assessed the flights either, and you can’t noise-insulate tents.” 

 “They’re not going to challenge this, the decision was that bad. We want it understood that this is purely an environmental case and the State conceded immediately. That’s all we want to stress,” they added.