A hotel purchased by the State two years ago to accommodate asylum-seekers remains idle and has now cost the taxpayer almost €2.4 million.
The Devereux Hotel in Rosslare Harbour, which was the scene of a protracted protest by local residents opposed to its intended use, has been gathering dust since the Office of Public Works paid £1.7 million (€2.16 million) for it in May, 2000. A further £183,000 (€232,000) has since been spent on security arrangements.
Independent Wexford councillor Mr Padge Reck, who supported the protesters, claims the OPW is spoiling the image of Rosslare Harbour by allowing the hotel to deteriorate. "It's one of the first commercial buildings you see on leaving the port of Rosslare and it looks appalling. But if you leave a building with no activity going on in it for two years what else can you expect," he said.
"I'd say they would be lucky to get £700,000 for it now if they put it on the market, which raises another question about the use of public funds," said Mr Reck.
Nevertheless, he believes the Office of Public Works should carry out refurbishments to the hotel and sell it. "They should put it on the market straight away and sell it back to the business sector before the tourist season starts. If they leave it any longer, it won't be worth a button. For God's sake let's do something with it."
Mr Reck said he wondered why local residents where not expressing concern about the building now. "I haven't heard a dickie bird from anyone," he said.
The Reception and Integration Agency, run by the Department of Justice, on whose behalf the hotel was bought, reached a compromise with picketing residents by agreeing to use the premises as a processing centre for a period of two years only and then placing it back on the market as a hotel.
The number of asylum-seekers arriving in Rosslare dropped and the Department decided there was no need to use the hotel. Asylum seekers are now interviewed in a Portakabin in the harbour.
A spokeswoman for the Office of Public Works said the hotel was not being offered for sale at the moment. She added that the OPW was in "ongoing discussions" with the Department of Justice about what should happen to it.
The OPW has spent approximately £183,000 (€232,000) on security arrangements for the hotel since buying it, she said.
The Labour Party spokesman on Justice, Mr Brendan Howlin TD, said there were serious questions to be answered about how a State agency could expend such a large amount of money and leave "a virtual white elephant" sitting in Rosslare Harbour for almost two years.
"The purchase of this hotel was for a particular purpose which has never been fulfilled," he said.