Eviction Notices At Esplanade Hotel IPAS Centre

No room at the inn…?

atest press release from Community Action Tenants Union, issued on Sunday, July 13th 2025…

Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) demands the withdrawal of eviction notices sent to residents of the Esplanade Hotel accommodation centre in Bray.

Several families currently housed in the Esplanade Hotel have been told by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) to leave their direct provision accommodation over the next days and weeks and either be relocated across the country or potentially end up on the streets.

No one should be threatened with eviction without suitable alternative accommodation. Everyone should have a good quality secure home, a chance to be part of a community and a chance to get on with their lives working and looking after their families.

In Bray, our fellow CATU member and Esplanade Hotel resident explained the impact this eviction notice has had: ‘I’m losing sleep over this. We work here, and our kids go to school here. The only thing I wish is to find a place of our own for my family, but this is impossible due to the housing crisis’. Another resident says of the discrimination she faces when looking for accommodation: “I’m going to viewings but I’m told, ‘we won’t rent to you because you have kids’ or, ‘we won’t rent to a black woman’.”

Esplanade Hotel c1900 Robert French

CATU Ireland is committed to vigorously defending our members against any form of discrimination and mistreatment inflicted by both the state and private landlords. When we stand together as a community we can stay strong and we can win.

CATU member Marie says: “Our fellow members have fought hard to find jobs and schools for their kids in and around Bray; the relocations IPAS is trying to impose will completely disrupt their lives and the community ties they’ve built here. The dislocation of hundreds of refugees across the country does not free up space, like IPAS claims, it only destabilises lives and communities.”

We demand that IPAS, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and other relevant bodies:
⦿ Withdraw all eviction notices sent to residents of the Esplanade Hotel in Bray
⦿ Organise suitable alternative accommodation that is agreed upon by the residents themselves.
⦿ Provide comprehensive wrap-around mental health and community support services for every resident affected who wants them.

The idea of Community Action Tenants Union – CATU Ireland, is simple: A union for people outside of their workplaces. We have taken the basic ideas of membership, collective direct action, and grassroots democracy to battle the housing and community issues of our time; sky-rocketing rents and house prices, precarious housing, alienation between neighbours, slashed local services, and an erosion of our public spaces.

In a short period since its founding in 2019, CATU has ballooned to a few thousand members, with active branches across Belfast, Derry, Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Cork, Waterford, Dublin and now, north Wicklow. Working together, we’re making material improvements to the lives of communities and individuals across Ireland and demanding safe, secure and affordable homes for all.

You can find out more on their website here or follow on Instagram here.