Cork Airport Hotel gets green light for 20-room expansion
The owners of the Cork International Hotel at Cork Airport have received planning permission for an extension. A further 20 rooms are planned to be built on the site.
Just a stone’s throw from the airport and 100 m from the terminal building, a new single-storey building is to be built behind the existing hotel.
It is currently used exclusively to accommodate Ukrainian refugees who are granted temporary protection in Ireland.
The planning documents state that the 20 additional rooms will initially also be used to accommodate Ukrainians, but will later be used as hotel rooms “once the Cork Airport Hotel returns to normal use as hotel accommodation”.
The 81-room hotel is currently fully occupied and accommodates 203 people. According to the documents, 2026 is planned as the “open year” for the new building.
No objections were received to the proposed development and Cork City Council granted planning permission earlier this week.
The hotel is just one of hundreds across the state currently providing shelter to people fleeing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
However, the government is facing difficulties as many contracts with hotels and other accommodation providers expire this summer.
In May, Taoiseach Simon Harris said nearly 70 contracts would expire “shortly” and many hotel and community facilities should be reopened to the public.
In recent months, the government has introduced stricter social assistance regulations for asylum seekers and Ukrainians.
At the beginning of the year, it had already reduced social assistance payments for Ukrainian refugees who had arrived after March from the unemployment rate of 232 euros to 38.80 euros per week.
It was also announced that support payments for Ukrainians who fled to Ireland between 2022 and early 2024 and are living in state-provided accommodation would be cut.
Separately reported this month that the government canceled about 75 state contracts to house Ukrainian refugees last year due to security concerns and excessive prices charged by suppliers.
New data from the Integration Department shows that its internal compliance team has investigated 278 providers such as hotels and guest houses since last July.
The dismissals by the ministry resulted in 4,100 Ukrainian refugees having to leave their accommodation.
Another 75 providers who also had compliance concerns have now addressed the problems, the ministry said.
