Fears for the future of Killarney’s tourism brand have been raised at a public meeting which heard opposition to plans to convert a guesthouse in the Co Kerry town into accommodation for applicants for international protection.
The meeting, held at the Old Weir Lodge, heard from residents of the Muckross Road area about an “immoral” lack of access to GPs and other health services in the town, which was said to be at “breaking point” due to the number of refugees and international protection applicants being accommodated there.
Attendees were told some 2,500 Ukrainian refugees are staying in Killarney hotels and guesthouses, in addition to about 400 international protection applicants.
Local politicians were last week informed that the Kingscourt/Harmony Inn, a 22-bedroom former guesthouse on the Muckross Road, is set to house 70 of the applicants.
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Hotelier Bernadette Randles said she could get a six-month contract from the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) “in the morning”, but she was not willing to “sacrifice tourism in Kerry”.
Ms Randles, who runs the four-star Dromhall Hotel, said health and safety concerns should be raised about the placing of 70 men who did not know each other, three to a room, in the former guesthouse.
“They actually might be the nicest people in the world. We have no idea,” said Ms Randles, who said she did not believe the Government was listening to concerns raised by communities about such plans.
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Marcus Treacy, manager of the five-star Killarney Park Hotel, said the town has a recognised tourism brand and he feared the “immense damage” that headlines about such plans could have in the US and elsewhere.
Wednesday’s meeting, chaired by former Fine Gael councillor Cathal Walsh, heard concerns from locals about not being told who would be staying in the accommodation or where they would be coming from.
Some residents spoke of their fears about walking the Muckross Road going forward. One woman who only gave her name as Elsa, who works in a restaurant in Killarney and walks home at night, said she had bought pepper spray.
Another woman who gave her name as Helen, who has lived in Killarney for 12 years and works as a tour operator, said her parents were moving from Birmingham to live near her but could not find a GP willing to take them on.
She said that due to the lack of available four-star hotel accommodation in Killarney, she was now placing tourists in Tralee and Waterville, with the effect that the town was losing business. “For a town that was incredibly welcoming to me, the sympathy is waning. That’s not the town I know,” she said.
The meeting heard suggestions that, in protest against the Kingscourt/Harmony Inn move, tractors and trucks should be used to block access to the town and that a major march should be held.
A further public meeting about the matter is to take place at the East Avenue Hotel on Sunday. All five Kerry TDs and local councillors have been invited.