Magherabuoy House Hotel, Portrush

The Magherabuoy House is a 52 room three star hotel set on a hilltop above Portrush, combining a 19th century gentleman's residence with a modern hotel block. After being sold to the Lord Rana group, it was brought into Home Office asylum accommodation use as a second residential centre on the Causeway Coast, with the Rambler Inn at Castlerock having been used in the same role. The wider Northern Ireland asylum hotel estate had expanded to nineteen hotels by late 2022^[3].

In 2023 a small group of local residents gathered at Portrush Town Hall to oppose the plans to use the Magherabuoy as a refugee residential centre, and one person was arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour^[2]. TUV Council candidate Allister Kyle separately raised concerns about the plans, citing the proximity to the Rambler Inn site^[1].

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[4], a 52 person site implies headline taxpayer exposure of around £8,840 per night and roughly £3.2 million per year. The May 2025 NAO contract review flagged the Northern Ireland portfolio as small in absolute terms but proportionally high cost given limited dispersed alternatives in the private rental market^[5]NAO.