Killarney is at “a crossroads” and will have to decide whether it continues as a major tourist destination or becomes a direct provision and refugee accommodation centre, a council meeting has heard.
The goodwill that previously existed in the Co Kerry town towards refugees was no longer there because of the numbers arriving and the resulting pressure on health, education and other services, a Killarney municipal district meeting heard. The town has a population of 10,360 was now accommodating 3,200 refugees and asylum seekers, councillors were told.
“Is Killarney next March going to be a major tourist destination or a direct provision centre?” asked independent councillor Brendan Cronin. “Big accommodation providers in Killarney are going to have to be asked that question.”
Mr Cronin asked what was “the prediction” for the refugees in March and April should the hotels and guesthouses where they were staying decide to “put them out”.
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‘One hell to another’
Labour councillor Marie Moloney said business operators bringing people to a town with no services for them “should be questioned”. She said these businesses were in the same trade as the rest of the town but were destroying tourism.
“We cannot bring people from the Ukraine into Killarney and then not be able to provide the services. They are going from one hell to another,” she said.
It had been nearly impossible to get a GP appointment before refugees arrived in large numbers, she said, and now doctors and schools did not have capacity to handle demand.
She said councillors were getting “earfuls” from the public and the goodwill that existed in Killarney in March and April “is disappearing”.
[ Killarney needs greater help in hosting refugees says local support groupOpens in new window ]
Ms Moloney said people living in the Park Road area near Hotel Killarney were afraid to walk the road. “We have created the fear by bringing in too many,” she said, adding that nobody on the council was being racist but rather facing into the reality of the situation.
Cllr Maura Healy-Rae said it was nearly impossible to get tourist accommodation in Killarney at weekends now. Small businesses in the town, a traditional part-time employer for college students and others, were “going to be gone”, she said.
‘Dignified’ discussion
Mayor of Killarney Cllr Niall Kelleher commended the “dignified and reasonable” discussion at the meeting.
He said Killarney was being asked to do more than any other town and it had so many refugees and asylum seekers now that Kasi, a long-established organisation helping asylum seekers and refugees, was “at a tipping point” becasue of the numbers.
Niall Callaghan, councillor and hotelier, requested a meeting with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe. He said business in pubs, cafés and restaurants was down by up to 40 per cent because of the reduction in tourist footfall which he blamed on Government policy to place refugees in tourist accommodation.
“We are at a very big cross roads in the town right now. Where do we go?” Mr O’Callaghan asked.