Despite media and online misinformation around the May Bank Holiday Weekend that the Haydens Hotel Site was to be used as accommodation for International Protection applicants, the owners of Hayden’s Hotel have said it plans to use the building for healthcare – and Departmental and Local Authority Management confirmed to public reps that no such IPAS plans exist.
Claddagh Ventures Limited was given the green light recently by An Coimisiún Pleanála to make changes to the famous hotel on Dunlo Street, including the additional of nine ground floor bedrooms for a variety of uses.
Tom Coyle, Director, Claddagh Ventures Ltd – the morning after media reports began circulating – immediately clarified fully the position of the owners .
“We have been engaging for well over two years with and commenced architectural plans for a health care facility, step-down care facility and ancillary healthcare associated uses at the former Hayden’s hotel property. Galway County Council and the HSE will be familiar with this engagement and can confirm same. Independently around that time our company received an interest from a third-party provider relating to accommodation for displaced persons. An application on foot of this was submitted to Galway County Council and the third-party interest recommended the application be appealed to An Bord Pleanála now An Coimisiún Pleanála. I understand this has now been approved.”
He went to on to add “ Claddagh Ventures Ltd has not ever and will not be involved in accommodation provision for displaced persons. Our objectives are to build state-of-the-art healthcare facilities that will provide a range of health services for the wider Ballinasloe and hinterland region, and we continue to work with the HSE in that regard.”.
For clarity he noted “ Claddagh Ventures Ltd are not and will not be involved in accommodation relating to direct provision or related accommodation for displaced persons at the former Hayden’s Hotel site”.
Sinn Fein TD Claire Kerrane said she contacted the Department of Justice for clarity. “There are no plans or discussions ongoing to use Hayden’s Hotel for IPAS accommodation and the Department are not seeking any additional accommodation,” Deputy Kerrane said.
Cllrs Harney, Parsons, and Deputy Martin Daly all issued clarification statements in the wake of the storm of unpleasant commentary and unnecessary fears.
In the background of the fake news story two issues of note were forgotten.
Irish Government made a policy change early in the week at Cabinet on Tue 28th of April to withdraw tourist and commercial accommodation housing IPAS guests. This followed their earlier policy announcement in Nov 2025 that the Department was phasing out this type of emergency accommodation for all IPAS clients.
Secondly most construction professionals agree is that the core structure of the Hotel Complex has deteriorated so vastly in the past decade it has remained closed , that it could not be redeemed or renovated without having been rebuilt from the foundation up.
