Eighteen-bed hostel planned for County Roscommon village

Plans for an 18-bed hostel and community café at the former Garda Station in Ballintubber have received a funding boost to allow the project proceed to the planning and design phase.

Short stay hostel accommodation is being planned for the building along with a community based café.

This project has been in the making since 2017 with conceptual designs, a 10-year financial plan and community survey already completed.

“This is something that we have wanted for a long time. Hostels and accommodation are seriously lacking in Roscommon,” explained Gail Murray of the Ballintubber Development Association.

It’s clear that the hostel will also have a ready-made target market.

“We have a waterways project now, we have the walks and we have the castle, we very much need this accommodation for the final piece of the outdoor recreation projects which we are trying to promote and package,” she said.

In 2022, Roscommon County Council purchased the former barracks in the village for the purpose of leasing it long term to the development association.

“We want to base the project on a social enterprise model so any money made by it goes back into the community and different projects. 

"I think this is very unique to Roscommon and also because it is a social enterprise,” Ms Murray outlined.

Under the Government’s Rural Regeneration Development Funding (RRDF), the Ballintubber project along with another former garda station repurposing project in Tarmonbarry received a total allocation of €284,500.