Quay Community Centre in Westport to be stood down as refugee accommodation

WESTPORT’S Quay Community Centre is to be stood down as a rest centre for Ukrainian refugees.

The building is to revert back to use as a community centre almost two years after it was first used as temporary accommodation for people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Councillors from the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District recently passed a motion calling for the centre to revert back to its original intended use.

Local Fine Gael county councillor Peter Flynn welcomed the development as ‘positive news’ in a post on his Facebook page.

“It was never a suitable location to place refugees but great credit must go to the community who rallied behind the people who ended up there for short stays over the last 2 years,” said Cllr Flynn. 

The centre had been used intermittently to accommodate Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection from Ukraine until other accommodation was sourced.

The January meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District was told that 362 people had been accommodated there since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Tom Gilligan, Mayo County Council’s Director of Services for Housing, told the meeting that there were ‘no plans to change its current use’ at the time.

No date has been confirmed for its reopening as a community centre.

The Quay Community Centre first opened in December 2013 to serve the Quay and wider Westport area.

Cllr Flynn has also requested that Westport’s Meals on Wheels Service be accommodated at the facility while their premises on Mill Street is unavailable.