Councillors in Drogheda have written to Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O'Gorman seeking an immediate meeting, on foot of a decision to house up to 500 international protection applicants in the town's biggest hotel.
A two-year contract has been signed with The D Hotel to provide accommodation from early next month.
Councillors from the Drogheda Borough District met this evening to discuss the decision for over an hour.
In a statement issued after the meeting, signed by all ten members, they said the decision was to the great detriment of efforts to develop tourism in the county and was taken "without any consultation at all prior to announcing the decision".
They said that a "total lack of communication", from the minister and his department was "unacceptable" and has caused a situation to arise where Drogheda will suffer financially and where there is a risk to those working in Drogheda of losing their jobs.
The councillors said they believe the cost of the hotel not being available for tourism accommodation in the town was in the region of €5.4 million.
They are seeking a meeting with Mr O'Gorman "as a matter of extreme urgency," and are also seeking clarity on whether an economic risk assessment has been carried out on how this decision will impact Drogheda.
The councillors said that a financial package would need to be discussed.
"A part of this discussion will need to be real and tangible State-provided financial packages for the town to counter the damage that is going to be done by the Minister in making this decision," they said.
The statement was issued on a cross-party and no-party basis, with councillors saying they have already and will continue to welcome migrants to the area.
Speaking after the meeting, councillor Kevin Callan said that the matter was "so serious", they had no choice other than to seek the meeting with the minister and that they are expecting a response "within hours, if not the next few days".
Councillors also discussed the possibility of taking legal action at their meeting this evening.
Mr Callan said they would raise this again at the County Council meeting on Monday.
"It's another avenue to examine, whether or not injunctive relief can be sought", he said.
Local Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster criticised the fact that public representatives were contacted after the contract had been signed.
"That's neither consultation, nor engagement and it shows the Government has learned nothing from recent events around asylum accommodation."
She said that Government representatives could have "picked up the phone and said that they’ve been offered the only large hotel in Drogheda for international protection applicants, and asked local representatives about the effect this would have on the town".
She accused the Government of not being concerned about what she said was the ongoing erosion of services in Drogheda, including GPs, speech and language therapists, dentists, school places and mental health services.
"The only person the Department took into account in Drogheda was the hotel owner, and what suited them financially," she added.
