Hotel Westport set to end contract for Ukrainian refugees

A Westport hotel which has accommodated hundreds of Ukrainian refugees will end its contract with the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) at the end of the month.

Hotel Westport has confirmed to The Mayo News that it will no longer accommodate Ukrainian refugees from the end of June.

The 129-bed hotel, which is owned by the Hughes family, first began accommodating Ukrainian refugees in October 2022, seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is due to undergo extensive refurbishments after the property is vacated. This will involve the demolition of much of the existing hotel – which was built in the 1970s.

“The Hotel will shortly commence with the development upgrade project as planned,” a spokesperson stated.

It is understood that many Ukrainian refugees have begun leaving the hotel in recent weeks in anticipation of the hotel ending its contract with IPAS.

As of February 4, 2024, 1,303 PPS numbers had been allocated to Ukrainian refugees in the Westport Local Electoral Area.

Judy Casey, a co-founder of Westport Welcomes Ukraine, encouraged local people to consider taking in Ukrainian refugees into their homes.

Roughly 1,000 Ukrainians in Mayo are living in private households receiving the Accommodation Recognition Payment of €800 per month.

“There’s certainly a lot of people in the hotel who are working locally and would like to remain in Westport and remain in their jobs,” Ms Casey told The Mayo News.

In May, Mayo was accommodating 2,342 Ukrainian refugees in state-provided accommodation - a drop of more than 500 since January.

Since the outbreak of the war with Russia, Ukrainians have been entitled to automatic refugee status under the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive. This has entitled them to claim social welfare benefits in Ireland as Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection.

Under recent changes in government policy, Ukrainian refugees can only access state-provided accommodation for 90 days before having to source their own accommodation. Since March, weekly social welfare payments to new arrivals have been cut from €232 a week to €38.80.

Since the start of the war, a large number of Ukrainians who have come to Mayo have been accommodated in hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses.