Mullooly appeals to Minister to stop work on Athlone asylum seeker centre

Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly has appealed to Minister Roderic O'Gorman to stop work on the temporary accommodation centre currently being developed for 1,000 asylum seekers at Lissywollen in Athlone.

The former RTE journalist first voiced his opposition to the project on Virgin Media's Tonight Show earlier this month.

In a video posted today to X, formerly Twitter, Mr Mullooly said: "I'm very opposed to this on the grounds that you cannot put 1,000 people into temporary accommodation like this without the provision of proper facilities."

He went on to say that his fellow Independent Ireland representative, Cllr Paul Hogan, had done "trojan work" in attempting to stop the progression of works at the site.

"Paul has followed, by the rule book, the regulations with regard to the environmental screening of this site.

"As he is allowed to do in the Municipal powers, he has pursued this with the Minister and has asked the Minister on a number of occasions to stop the work [at Lissywollen] and to go through the process in the proper manner.

"Paul has been responsible in everything he has done. Now I know Paul and his fellow councillors in Athlone are going to the courts, and the court will have to deal with that in their own way next week."

In a concluding message to the Minister, Mr Mullooly said: "I make one final appeal to Roderic O'Gorman, and to the Government, to stop this work.

"Stop the work that's going on here, respect the fact that you have not gone about it in the proper way, that it is not safe - environmentally safe or otherwise - to house 1,000 people in mobile accommodation here, and stop it as soon as you can - before the courts stop you."