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By Sean Moriarty

People sleeping rough on the streets of Killarney are refusing offers of accommodation from Kerry County Council officials, according to Cllr Donal Grady who raised the issue at a recent Joint Policing Committee online meeting.

This is the second time he raised the issue. Last September he told a Killarney Municipal District meeting that he was concerned at the number of rough sleepers in the town centre.

Since then, Cllr Grady and his son Martin have made several attempts to house these individuals but so far they have all refused his and Kerry County Council’s offers.

“Kerry County Council has rooms in Tralee and Killarney and they won’t take them,” O’Grady told the Killarney Advertiser. “There are offers of single rooms – because of COVID – and they still refuse.”

Last August traders on Plunkett St raised concerns to the Killarney Advertiser over the number of people sleeping rough in the archway on Glebe Lane.

There are also a number of individuals currently sleeping rough on Beech Road.

Killarney Gardai previously said that it is not illegal to be homeless and that they can only take action if individuals engage in criminal activity.

“It is not a matter for gardai unless an offence is notified to us,” Chief Superintendent Eileen Foster, head of the Kerry Garda Division told the Joint Policing Committee meeting.

Begging is not illegal either unless it is done in certain circumstances like in close proximity to an ATM machine. However, there is such a bank machine on Beech Road.

“People can’t go to the bank because as soon as they park these people are around them,” added Grady.

A Kerry County Council official told the meeting: “If a person refuses accommodation then there’s nothing we can do about it”.