Locals were kept in the dark until the last weekend of January, just 72 hours before the new residents began to arrive on buses from Dublin. News of the plan has stunned the town, whose population will grow by almost 10 per cent. No fewer than 120 will be billeted there until further notice.
Instead, the Irish government has decided that this 18th-century landmark, reputedly the oldest surviving purpose-built hotel in Ireland, will henceforth start a new life as a 'direct provision centre' housing refugees and asylum seekers. The town's only hostelry, the Lismore House Hotel, has just announced that its imminent planned re-opening, following a big post-Covid renovation, has been cancelled. Yet this summer, any visitors to Lismore will face a problem - there will be nowhere to stay. With a population of just 1,350, its quiet charm draws free-spending visitors during the tourist season, filling tearooms and pubs and propping up the economy in the process. On the Blackwater River in deepest County Waterford lies the town of Lismore, famed for its 17th-century cathedral, 800-year-old castle and bustling weekly market, where farmers sell some of Ireland's most sought-after potatoes.
0 kommentar(er)
