A Dublin 8 commercial property linked to controversial landlord Marc Godart is at the centre of an anti-immigration row after it was erroneously identified as a new facility for accommodating asylum seekers.
Anti-immigration campaigners organised a protest on Thursday evening outside Barley House on Marrowbone Lane in Dublin 8 following unfounded rumours it was being prepared to house International Protection Applicants.
More than 100 people, including onlookers, attended the protest.
The Department of Integration has confirmed it has no plans to use the building for accommodation and no offer had been made by the owner of the building to the department for its use as such.
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The rumours started locally and were spread on social media after businesses on the ground floor of the building were given notice to quit by their landlord and bunk beds were moved into the units.
Dublin City Council is taking enforcement action in relation to the unauthorised conversion of the units to residential and their use for short-term letting without the appropriate planning permission.
The building is owned by companies of which Mr Godart, a Luxembourg businessman who has been buying Irish property since 2014, is a director.
Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said he was “deeply concerned by the false information” that had stirred up potential protests at the building.
“False, totally baseless information is being used to create a social media storm around the use of this building when the facts are that in no shape or form is this being used for International Protection Applicants,” he said.
He said the spread of false information was particularly concerning given the rise of violence and arson attacks by anti-immigration activists and he called for the protest not to proceed.
Mr Moriarty said the council’s planning enforcement section is aware of the activity at the unit “and it has been confirmed to me it is already under investigation”.
The city council has on previous occasions taken legal action against firms associated with Mr Godart in relation to the unauthorised use of commercial buildings for residential and short-term letting accommodation.
Mr Godart has also been the subject of several Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) cases where the board has ruled his former tenants were entitled to compensation.
This week, the District Court ruled Mr Godart will have to pay a legal bill of some €4,000 after he “dragged out” the payment of RTB compensation to two former Dublin tenants for 19 months.
In June, another previous tenant finally received compensation she was awarded by the RTB in 2022, but only after she took a High Court case when Mr Godart did not abide by an earlier ruling of the District Court.
Mr Godart did not respond to queries from The Irish Times in relation to Barley House.
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