Mosney Accommodation Centre (formerly ''Butlin's Mosney'' and ''Mosney Holiday Centre'') is located in

Mosney Mosney () is a townland and village in the civil parish of Moorechurch in County Meath, Ireland, from Dublin. It was best known as the site of a Butlin's holiday camp during the second half of the 20th century and as the site for the nationa ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and is situated approximately from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. It is probably best known as the site of a

Butlin's Butlin's is a chain of large Seaside resort, seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one ...

holiday camp A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with term ...

in the second half of the 20th century and as the site for the national finals of the

Community Games Aldi Community Games is an Irish independent voluntary organisation and National Governing Body providing opportunities for children and young people to grow and develop in a positive and healthy way while experiencing a wide range of sporting and ...

. By the early 21st-century, this had been converted into an accommodation centre for

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

-seekers. The centre was served by

Mosney railway station Mosney Railway Station opened in June 1948 to serve Butlin's Holiday Camp in County Meath, Ireland and closed in the summer of 2000, the last season during which the camp operated. See also * List of railway stations in Ireland This art ...

, which closed down in 2000. Currently, it ranks as the biggest earning direct provision Centre in Ireland.

History

Butlin's Mosney

Mosney was the first

camp outside the UK. In most ways Mosney was identical to Butlin's existing camps. Multiple complaints appeared in the ''

Catholic Standard The ''Catholic Standard'', founded in 1951, is the official weekly newspaper for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.About ...

'', warning that holiday camps were an English idea that was not desirable in Ireland. Like the other camps, Mosney was designed to have a church and reassurances were given that it would be a Catholic chapel with a resident priest. Reassurances were also given that Irish nationals would have priority over British tourists in booking holidays. It was registered on , and in July 1948, the camp was finally opened by

William Norton William Joseph Norton (2 November 1900 – 4 December 1963) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957, Leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1960, Minister for Social Welfare from ...

, who was the Minister for Social Welfare, and it operated successfully as a Butlin's camp until the early 1980s.

Mosney Holiday Centre

In 1982, Butlin's sold the camp, which was renamed Mosney Holiday Centre. The camp continued without substantive changes. Every year more than 6,000 children from around the country travelled to Mosney to take part in the Community Games, held in Mosney for 25 years. Mosney was the only location in Ireland that had the required 2,500 beds. Each June, the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , ...

took over the centre and provided holidays for 1,200 local people. The last season for Mosney was 2000. Dwindling visitor numbers and problems finding staff for the short 12-week season eventually led to the camp's closure.

Mosney Accommodation Centre

In December 2000, a five-year deal was signed with the government to turn Mosney into an asylum seeker accommodation centre. Mosney is now home to around 600 asylum seekers from over 20 different countries. Most of the old attractions have been mothballed, but recreation facilities still included a football arena, table tennis and a supervised play area. There is a 2007 documentary called "Seaview" featuring interviews with asylum seekers and staff from the camp. The deal to use the camp has been renewed periodically since 2005, with a fluctuating contracted capacity.

* Trabolgan Holiday Village * Red Island Holiday Camp

References

External links

Leaflet on Mosney Accommodation Centre
by the Reception and Integration Agency of the Irish government
Mosney MemoriesSeaview (2007) documeantry film about the refugee camp at the IMDB
{{County Meath, autocollapse=collapsed

Refugee camps in Europe Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Buildings and structures in County Meath ga:Maigh Muirí gv:Maigh Muirí