THE hotelier who is to accommodate 115 asylum seekers in Lisdoonvarna has a 2005 conviction for employing migrants without work permits, we have learned.

Marcus White has signed a contract with the State’s Reception and Integration Agency to turn the King Thomond Hotel in Co Clare into a direct provision centre.

Hotelier Marcus White

The owner — centrally involved in the famous match-making festival — earlier this year told a public meeting: “If the town is not able to accommodate 115 people, so be it. I’m not going to do something to hurt this town.”

A secret ballot was then held in which 93 per cent voted against the proposal.

However, the businessman on Monday signed the contract with the first wave of 30 asylum seekers due to arrive next week.

Local resident John O’Donnell said: “Direct provision is abhorrent and has been an abject failure. This will have a dramatic impact on the community.”

King Thomond Hotel in Co Clare will be turned into a direct provision centre

In 2005, White and two hotels controlled by the White family, the Hydro and Imperial in Lisdoonvarna, were fined €11,000 for employing 14 non-Irish nationals without work permits.

Seven were from China, two from South Africa with one each from Japan, Thailand, Ukraine, Vietnam and Malaysia.

At the time his solicitor told the court that: “There are dozens of migrant workers employed by the White Hotel Group and they have a very good system in place for processing legitimate work permits.”

Despite this, Judge Joseph Mangan imposed the fine.

Addressing this, O’Donnell added: “I find it absolutely astonishing the hotel owner has a conviction for illegally employing migrant workers.

“And the department has now contracted him to be the responsible person looking after potentially vulnerable migrants.”

Senator Martin Conway

In a statement released to local press, White said: “The State, the RIA and the Department of Justice and Equality have extensive experience and resources and are committed to making this project work for all concerned.

"We decided to enter a contract with the Department of Justice for the provision of accommodation to persons seeking international protection for a period of one year.”

White added: “We gave a commitment in the lead-up to this point that if all of the people of Lisdoonvarna did not want the contract to go ahead then it would not.

“There have been various meetings and while there is certainly a number of people that do not want the contract to be signed there are equally a number that do.

Marcus White has probably employed thousands of people over the years. I don’t know whether it was a conviction as a result of an oversight where someone hadn’t paperwork submitted on time and ended up with people working illegally in an inadvertent way. Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway

“We will review the situation at the expiry of the year to determine whether the commitments made have been met.”

Clare-based Senator Martin Conway yesterday spoke to Integration Minister David Stanton about the failure to properly inform the area about the influx.

He said: “We asked the rep, Fine Gael’s Justice spokesman in the Seanad, if it was correct to give a contract to someone who was fined for employing migrants without proper work permits.”

And Senator Conway told the Irish Sun: “It depends on whether it was malicious or whether it ended up as an oversight. Was it just that the paperwork wasn’t ­submitted on time?

“Marcus White has probably employed thousands of people over the years. I don’t know whether it was a conviction as a result of an oversight where someone hadn’t paperwork submitted on time and ended up with people working illegally in an inadvertent way.

“Or I don’t know whether he deliberately and maliciously set out. I don’t have the answer. Obviously he broke the law and what he did was wrong.”

He slammed the Department of Justice for not being upfront with the people of Lisdoonvarna.

And the Senator added: “I don’t believe direct provision is an appropriate setting to keep people for a lengthy period of time.

“In terms of Lisdoonvarna, it is always more appropriate if people are in an urbanised environment. But unfortunately there simply isn’t available facilities in urban areas. Giving people a week or two to adjust is not acceptable and lessons need to be learned.

“But equally we are in the situation now where there is a facility with 65 rooms available to house people who would otherwise be on the side of the street.

“And I know the people of Lisdoonvarna, in spite of the many concerns, will do everything they can to make the families welcome.”

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said: “The contract has been negotiated and completed in line with all relevant rules and guidelines.

“While the Department is not in a position to comment on any individual’s previous convictions, in general terms an individual’s previous history does not preclude them from completing future contracts.”