IT has been claimed that some business owners in Glengarriff are threatening to withhold the payment of rates to Cork County Council, unless something is done about alleged antisocial behaviour that has occurred in the village in recent months.
However, the gardaí have confirmed to The Southern Star that they have received no reports relating to the emergency accommodation centre in Glengarriff.
Councillors were unanimous at a meeting of the West Cork Municipal District in expressing their concern about issues relating to the centre, with Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) calling on the local authority to address the issues.
He claimed that several residents in the village had contacted him, with some even afraid to go out walking in the evening.
‘People being housed at the centre aren’t from the area but from Cork city and further afield, and this accommodation should be for people of West Cork,’ said Cllr Collins. ‘People are beginning to question who is coming into the village and it’s causing a lot of fear. Some businesses have said they will stop paying their rates until it stops.’
He said there has been incidents of antisocial behaviour in the village in recent months which he said shouldn’t be happening.
‘If people need housing in the West Cork area then the premises in Glengarriff is available for them but not for people coming from Cork city.’
Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind) echoed the allegations: ‘It’s not good enough for a beautiful village like Glengarriff, and people could start to become afraid to visit there. This is affecting the residents living here’.
The motion was supported by other elected representatives, with Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy (FF) voicing the opinion that when a lot of people are packed into one area it can be ‘discommoding’, and that some other approved housing bodies can better manage these situations.
The Southern Star contacted gardaí on foot of these claims, who said they had received no formal complaints in the last number of months.
Maurice Manning of Cork County Council responded in the meeting, that any issues at the centre were for the service provider to address: ‘Currently, all emergency accommodation is being provided in commercial accommodation facilities. Where a commercial facility is being utilised, it is a matter for the service provider to manage that facility.’
