"Community hotels won't help ease asylum seeker tensions." That's according to Mary Mullen who is the current chairperson of the board of directors at the Sliabh Beagh Hotel in Co Monaghan. The Sliabh Beagh Hotel is run by a voluntary board of directors from the local community, and all of its revenue goes towards paying staff wages, and funding community programmes. The Government is considering purchasing a disused venue in Roscrea so locals can establish a "community-owned hotel", after protesters there said that losing their only open hotel was a factor in their opposition to asylum seekers moving into the area.
According to Mary, this approach by Government will not act as an "answer" unless the interest is there from the community to set up the venture. Speaking on today's Joe Finnegan Show, Mary believes that unless there is a "bottom-up approach" it can be very difficult to make a success of a community-owned hotel. Despite this, through hard work and a commitment by members of the local community, the Sliabh Beagh Hotel continues to go from strength to strength.
"We do a lot of things that other hotels don't do," explained Mary. "We have a meal service to the elderly where we have approximately 120 people on a register who receive a subsides meal every week. Any money that is generated as a profit within the business is invested back into the area in things like area enhancements, over the years we have developed amenities such as four astro pitches and a children's playground among many other things."
