IPASssss
On 16 December last, it was announced that an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) building project on 11 acres at Lissywollen in Athlone had been cancelled by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O'Gorman. This happened six days after the first 92 residents had moved in. The development is now officially ''unauthorised'', but it is still there. Around a thousand men were to be housed in mostly tented accommodation at the site, which was being thrown together quickly following the ministerial order which bypassed compliance with An Bord Pleanala and EU laws. The legality of the development was challenged by the five Athlone-based county councillors - John Dolan of Fine Gael, Frankie Keena and Aonghus O'Rourke of Fianna Fail, and by Paul Hogan and Boxer Moran of relatively independent persuasions. The five men nominated Hogan to take a High Court case against the Minister. Hogan and the other councillor...