The stance adopted by a Killarney councillor, who has opted not to accommodate refugees or asylum seekers in his family-run hotel, has been praised by outspoken MMA fighter Conor McGregor.
Cllr Niall O’Callaghan appeared on RTÉ’s Prime Time on Thursday night confirming that his family made the decision to continue trading as normal, even though they would have been much better off financially if they had followed other business owners and “gone the other way”.
”Our family business has been here 50 years and we want to respect the industry that we have and the tourism product we can offer in Killarney,” he said.
Reacting on X (formerly Twitter) afterwards, McGregor said: “Bravo Councillor O’Callaghan, A noble decision!. The Fáilte Hotel in Killarney, family owned and run since the 1960s, I have heard so many amazing things about this great Irish hotel, situated I such a beautiful part of Ireland”.
McGregor added: “Support, support, support Fáilte Hotel, Killarney, Kerry, Ireland. The Kingdom”.
Cllr O’Callaghan had claimed that the arrival of refugees and asylum seekers to town has taken 40 per cent of the bednights out of the system at a time when the cost of running a business has gone through the roof.
He said there are about 1,000 refugees living on New Street alone and there are three or four cafés closing.
He told Prime Time presenter Fran McNulty that a number of small businesses have closed in Killarney because they could no longer survive.
‘We’ve been begging for a plan and if the government don’t listen small hotels and small bars and restaurants are going to be closing and they’re going to have a tsumami in about four or eight weeks’ time,” the Independent councillor predicted.
“Killarney is a welcoming town and we welcome everybody but we blame the government for not having a plan. Small businesses are struggling but the government hasn’t recognised that fact”.
Cllr O’Callaghan said it was “ridiculously profitable” for accommodation service providers to take in asylum seekers and refugees and his family business would be debt free in the space of 12 to 18 months if they “went into the system”.
But, he stressed, it’s more about having respect for the town you grew up in and the town that you’re trading in and the product that you want to offer to the world.
“We’re a tourist town at the end of the day and we hope to get back to normal at some stage,” he added.
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