Causeway Group CEO fires back over claims emergency accommodation in the Sands Hotel is 'unfit for purpose'

Causeway Group CEO Sean Johnston has fired back at Waterford City and County councillors over claims the Causeway-owned Sands Hotel, which is used for emergency accommodation, “is wholly unfit for purpose”. 

The remarks were made by Fianna Fáil councillor Jason Murphy in an April meeting of the Council, where he said that conditions in the hotel were “disgraceful.”

“The comments made publicly on paper and on air are completely without foundation and bear no resemblance to the reality of that facility,” Mr Johnston wrote to the Council’s head of Integrated Homeless Services on May 5.

Mr Johnston said at the time of the comments, Cllr Murphy had never visited the Sands Hotel. 

Mr Johnston said that by being involved in the provision of homelessness services, Causeway has become a target for dissent, “notwithstanding the level of service provided”.

The Council have used the Sands Hotel as one of its primary refuges for individuals requiring emergency accommodation. The contract between Causeway and the Council for the use of the hotel began in September 2024 and expired in March 2026.

The Council are continuing to use the facility in the interim as they look to move emergency accommodation services closer to Waterford City. The Council has set its sights upon the former Good Shepherd Convent on Hennessy’s Road as its future base of operations.

'Inaccurate and negative light'

Mr Johnston wrote that any critique of the Council’s properties also inferred wrongdoing on behalf of the Council’s oversight of homeless services.

“The council sets and enforces the highest standards required to operate this facility,” Mr Johnston wrote.

“Your team conducts regular inspections, meeting with residents on-site, and hold us as operators to rigorous compliance across every aspect of service delivery.

“It is very disappointing for the service to be presented in such an inaccurate and negative light, especially when this does not actually reflect the reality.”

According to Land Registry records, Causeway Group have been in control of the Sands Hotel since 2019.

Sinn Féin councillor Catherine Burke also took aim at the Council’s homelessness services at the same meeting where Cllr Murphy criticised the conditions of the Sands Hotel.

Speaking to the Waterford News & Star, she said she struck issue with the provision of the Council’s homeless services as a whole rather than accommodation in the Sands Hotel specifically.

She visited the hotel with Cllr Murphy following the April meeting and said Causeway were providing the service that the Council contract required.

“If emergency accommodation was, in fact, emergency accommodation, and people had to spend four or five or six weeks there and then were housed, fair enough,” Cllr Burke said.

“But when people are spending over 12 months in emergency accommodation, and these are families, mums and children, and they're all in the one room, sharing facilities with 20 other families…I think we can do better than that.” 

Cllr Murphy could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.