DAILY PATROLS: Garda Deirdre Quinn O'Doherty and Garda Laura Cahill pictured near Ross Castle as gardai step up patrols in areas across town to minimise the number of groups congregating together.

By Michelle Crean

With new increased powers as a response to the threat of COVID-19, Killarney Gardai have steped up daily patrols to minimise the numbers of people congregating around town.

Resources at Killarney Garda Station have increased after the allocation of three new garda recruits, who were sworn in prematurely as part of the new Coronavirus policing programme.

Local garda bosses have also increased man power on the streets, with daily mountain bike patrols in the National Park and other amenity areas such as Muckross, Killarney House, and Ross Castle.

“In response to the threat of COVID-19 and the recommendations of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) that all non-essential retail outlets close to members of the public and social distancing to be implemented, Killarney Gardaí have increased mountain bike patrols which will be patrolled daily minimising the risk of groups congregating,” Sergeant Dermot O’Connor told the Killarney Advertiser.

“Additional mobile patrols are in place in the community to address groups in housing estates.”

He said they’re getting regular calls about groups of up to six gathering together in various places around town. While it hasn’t escalated, he’s appealing to parents to keep them in.
“We would ask parents to self-regulate it and are asking for everybody’s help on this.”

Gardaí are also linking in with local community groups to identify persons in need of assistance at this time.

Killarney Gardaí are seeking the continued support of the community, and said that to date no significant difficulties have been reported to Killarney Gardaí.