Over 800 tourism jobs could be displaced locally due to a lack of hotel accommodation.
That's according to a report in The Irish Times which claims 402 jobs in Carrick on Shannon and a further 413 roles could be impacted in Athlone.
The figures were released to Ministers last week and also show 85% of bed capacity in Leitrim is occupied by refugees.
In Longford, the figure stands at 71%.
Colm McGrath, President of Carrick on Shannon Chamber of Commerce believes the number of displaced jobs suggested in today's report may not be a true reflection.
'I would like to see what is behind it because Carrick on Shannon wouldn't have that sort of issue. I wonder whether they are taking Leitrim in as a whole more so than Carrick on Shannon itself. We do a lot of work with the accommodation providers and the night time economy and none of them have that sort of problem at the moment. Hens and Stags are worth about 28 million to the economy alone which creates about 800 full and part time jobs and that certainly hasn't been impacted to that sort of level so I would really like to know where that figure of 402 is coming from and I just don't see it.'
