Some 17% of Westmeath's tourist beds being used for refugees

A new analysis by Fáilte Ireland found that close to one in five of all beds registered for tourist use in Westmeath are currently being used by the Government to accommodate asylum seekers or Ukrainian refugees.

The tourism body this month published an "updated overview of Government contracted bed stock" nationally.

It outlined how 17% of all bed space in properties on Fáilte Ireland registers or listings in Westmeath was being used to accommodate recent arrivals to the country.

The 17% figure in Westmeath represented the sixth highest proportion of tourist beds in use for this purpose, behind Clare (33%), Meath (26%), Mayo (20%), Wicklow (19%) and Offaly (18%).

Longford had 12% of beds at Fáilte Ireland registered properties in Government use, while the proportion was lower in Roscommon (6%).

The availability of tourist accommodation was least impacted in Kildare, where only 2% of registered tourist bed stock was being used to house refugees or asylum seekers.

Nationally, 12% of all registered beds were under contract, but Fáilte Ireland said this figure "may understate the on-the-ground impact" as it estimated a similar proportion of beds was currently being taken up in unregistered tourism properties.

"This highlights the need for, and importance of, a fully inclusive register of all tourist accommodation stock," it said.

As of November 2023, Fáilte Ireland estimated that the economic impact of displaced bed stock nationally was "in the range of €750 million to €1.1 billion".

Its analysis, which was based on data provided by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, stated that a total of 84,497 beds were under Government contracts nationally.

These included 29,586 beds (35%) in Fáilte Ireland-registered properties such as hotels and guesthouses.

Of the 54,911 contracted beds in unregistered properties, the tourism body said "up to 28,000" were in "establishments which could be tourism related, ie., former hotels, inns, lodges, unlisted guesthouses, unregistered B&Bs, and re-purposed accommodation retreat centres."

Earlier this year, Paul Kelly, the chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, said the practice of housing people arriving from Ukraine, and international protection applicants, in Irish hotels was not a good solution in the long-term.

Mr Kelly expressed concern that the shortage of hotel beds was leading to affordability issues that could endanger Ireland's reputation as a tourist destination.