Council will not refer homeless people to garda stations – Kelly

THE Chief Executive of Mayo County Council has said that it is not council policy to refer people to garda stations when there is no emergency accommodation available.

Mr Kevin Kelly was responding to Independent county councillor Michael Kilcoyne, who said he received a letter from a woman who had been told that the council had no emergency accommodation available.

Speaking at a meeting of Mayo’s Joint Policing Committee, Cllr Kilcoyne suggested that the local authority had ‘failed’ to provide emergency accommodation, before asking what role the gardaí would play in assisting homeless people who present at garda stations.

Ray McMahon, Chief Superintendent of the Mayo, Roscommon and Longford policing district, said that gardaí would not turn away homeless people but said there was no accommodation available at garda stations.

“When it comes to garda stations, usually that would be a last resort. We would try and get them in touch with various agencies,” Chief Supt McMahon said.

Responding to Cllr Kilcoyne’s suggestion that the local authority was ‘not dealing’ with homelessness, Kevin Kelly said that he would like to hear details of cases where homeless people are presenting at garda stations.

Mr Kelly admitted that there were instances where they could not accommodate people in their local area, citing one instance where a person in Ballina was accommodated in Killala.

“We have successfully found accommodation for people, which dispels any notion that people are presenting at our offices and we are indicating them to go to the garda station,” he said.

There are currently over 100 people accessing emergency accommodation across Mayo.

Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh said that homeless people in Mayo were being told that the nearest available emergency accommodation was in Roscommon as recently as two weeks previous.

She called on Mr Kelly to give ‘as much support as possible’ to the council staff dealing with homeless people.

“What they are trying to deal with is absolutely ferocious and they need the support there,” said Deputy Conway-Walsh.