A vacant building in Dublin City Centre close to the International Protection Office is set to be converted into accommodation for refugees - and could see profits of €16.5 million.

The Business Post’s Senior Business Reporter Killian Woods said up to 700 asylum seekers could be accommodated in the building.

“This building comes in at around, I think, 23,000 square feet, which is close to what has been proposed at the crown paints site in Coolock, the latter of which has been earmarked for a site that could hold as many as 700 people,” he said.

“We don't know exactly the layout of the building yet, but the way that building owners apply for these sorts of things, they don't need to give much details over while they're going through the application.

“So at this stage, we don't know exactly how many, but based on the size of the building - and also commercial conversion into accommodation - is roughly 700.”

03/05/'24 The International Protection Office on Mount Street, Dublin....Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The building on Mount Street was previously the headquarters of the Irish League of Credit Unions and is in the same area as seen in the footage of asylum seekers sleeping in dozens of tents.

It was put up for sale in 2023 for a guide price of €9.5 million, and it’s understood it was bought a few months ago.

“We don't really know [who the owner is] at this stage,” Mr Woods said.

“We do know the Irish League of Credit Unions put it up for sale for a guide price of €9.5 million.

“I understand based on market sources that went sale agreed last autumn and then a firm has stepped in called Lower Mount Street Accommodation Services Limited, which is no connection to the Irish League of Credit Unions.”

This firm has applied to use the building as an accommodation centre, Mr Woods said.

“We don't know if that sale actually completed but what could be happening and sometimes happens is someone close to completing the acquisition of a property would say, ‘I'll buy it on the basis that this planning application does go through’ but we don't know who owns it at this stage,” he said.

Tents of refugees and asylum seekers are removed from Mount Street in Dublin city, 1-5-24. Image: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

Members of the Mount Street Area Residents Network have sent an email to the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and all local TDs and Councillors expressing their concerns about the plans.

Residents have said they have been living with tents and metal barriers in their neighbourhood for over 18 months.

In April last year there were 285 people sleeping in tents on Mount Street at one point and for weeks there were no washing facilities or toilets for asylum seekers here.

Then at the beginning of May last year after the tents were removed, metal barriers were erected in the area to stop asylum seekers pitching tents again.

Residents have said they have borne the brunt of this crisis which they claim is of the Government's own making.

An early morning operation to remove tents which have been pitched by asylum seekers along a stretch of the Grand Canal, Dublin. Picture date: Thursday May 2, 2024.

Sharon, who lives on Lower Mount Street said she is calling on the Government to step in and stop the building being turned into accommodation for asylum seekers.

“The last two years have been a little bit difficult with the way we have been living and what we walk out into every day,” she said,

“The fences are still here and there's a sense of dereliction - rubbish gathers, it's not cleaned up - you just feel that nobody actually cares about our environment.

“With the fences, health and safety has to be an issue, because people find it difficult to pass one another by.

“So it just feels difficult living here at the moment.”

Tents housing asylum seekers on Mount Street last month. Image: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

In terms of 700 people moving into the community - Sharon said she doesn’t think it’s feasible.

“Well, we're a community of over 800 people and we gather that the planning permission has been for accommodation for 700 people, so that would have a really big impact on our community here,” she said.

“Are the facilities here? I don’t think so.

“The IPO office is here and it doesn't have the wraparound services that it needs to be able to take care of these numbers.

“So we'd be proposing that the structure and the IPO be considered further.”

Fences line Mount Street to block asylum seekers from pitching tents. Image: Barry Whyte/Newstalk

Businesses in the area are also opposed to this accommodation, saying the last 18 months have been extremely damaging for them.

The owners of Mamma Mia’s Restaurant on Grattan Street said what has happened over the last 18 months almost shut her business and yet they are expected to pay rates of €10,000 to Dublin City Council.

The local businesses have also not been contacted about the possibility of this asylum accommodation opening - a move which the Mamma Mia’s owners have said could close their doors for good.

Lower Mount Street Accommodation Services have applied for a planning exemption not planning permission, because planning permission is currently not required to convert buildings to house refugees.

Given the Government's current struggles to source asylum seeker accommodation, it is very likely that this exemption will be granted - so asylum seekers could be accommodated in this building on Mount Street within a month or two.

Tents being removed from outside the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin,1-5-24. Image: Sasko Lazarov / © RollingNews.ie

Over 18,500 people applied for international protection in Ireland last year with 1,864 people having already applied up until February 23rd of 2025.

Although not doing anything illegal, people who see a gap in the market here are setting up companies and trying to buy buildings for the purpose of housing ayslum seekers.

It’s estimated that it costs €65 euro per head per night for the Government to house international protection applicants, so this building on Mount Street could make over €16.5 million per year before taking costs into consideration.

The International Protection Office on Mount Street. Image: Mark Henderson / Alamy Stock Photo