The King Thomond
The King Thomond Hotel, a regency-style hotel just outside the village of Lisdoonvarna in north County Clare, operates as an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre for people in the international protection process. It is registered with HIQA as an IPAS centre (designation MON-IPAS-1016) and is operated by James White & Company UC. It was first contracted by the Department of Justice in 2018 to accommodate up to 115 international protection applicants, with the first residents arriving in March 2018. A HIQA inspection report published in 2024 examined the centre; according to The Irish Times, the inspection identified deficiencies including gaps in staff Garda vetting, child-safeguarding shortcomings and blocked emergency doorways, with the operator issued a compliance plan to address them.
Capacity
115
people (reported)
Per night
€84
per person (benchmark)
Annual
€3.5m
estimated
Background
The site is at Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Ireland. Irish international protection accommodation is provided through IPAS (the International Protection Accommodation Service), under the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. For how the system works and what it costs, open the cost panel on the interactive map with Ireland selected.
Incidents & reporting
Only events reported by named outlets and explicitly tied to this site are listed. Charges are allegations, not convictions — the presumption of innocence applies.
- May 2025WRC civil decision — operator ordered to pay compensation
WRC orders operator to pay €7,000 in workplace race-discrimination case
According to the Clare Echo, the Workplace Relations Commission in 2025 ordered James White & Company UC, which operates the King Thomond Hotel IPAS centre in Lisdoonvarna, to pay €7,000 in compensation to a former Romanian employee. The adjudicator found the company had failed to adequately train staff and communicate its bullying and harassment policies, and that these omissions contributed to the worker being subjected to discrimination on the grounds of race after a colleague directed racially abusive remarks at her in staff accommodation. This was a civil employment decision concerning the operator as an employer, not a criminal matter.
Clare Echo · source
Cost
Irish IPAS accommodation is funded by the State. At a blended benchmark of about €84 per person per night (the 2024 whole-system average reported by RTÉ), the 115 people reported here imply roughly €3.5m per year. This is an order-of-magnitude figure for context only, not a site-specific invoice — over 90% of IPAS accommodation is commercially provided and emergency rates run far above State-owned centres.
Sources
The Irish Times · Jul 2024. View source
Coordinates geocoded from the published address/town via OpenStreetMap; status reflects the cited reporting and may have changed since.