Kilkenny gardaí have asked that people do not support beggars on the streets of Kilkenny who are present in droves asking for money.
Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser this week Sergeant Ciaran Sheehan said that although the Garda Síochána’s hands are tied in regard to preventing people from begging, people can lessen the situation by not giving to the beggars who appear to have descended on the city since the beginning of the tourist season.
It’s thought the beggars are being driven to Kilkenny in buses or that they are coming by train to cash in on the large numbers of visitors who visit the city during the summer months.
“These are highly organised gangs of people who do not need to beg,” said Sergeant Sheehan. “Many of them are on welfare payments and have enough money to pay for train fares to get here from Dublin. They make a lot of money from begging with children in their arms on the streets and we shouldn’t be supporting them.”
In recent times it was discovered that the gardaí are not permitted to prevent people from begging on the streets, however they are allowed to move beggars on if they are obstructing a walkway or if there are child abuse issues.
“There is little we can do but move them on if they are causing a nuisance — the Constitution prevents us from taking further steps at this stage,” said Sergeant Sheehan.
It is believed that the law is to be changed in the not too distant future that will make begging illegal but until then, the beggars can continue to make a nuisance of themselves on the streets of Kilkenny.
“They come here with large extended families and they work in packs. They are not local and unfortunately they can put people off coming to the city.”
There have been a number of arrests in the past by Kilkenny gardaí for theft offences involving beggars but gardaí say that the beggars are very clever and know how to stretch the law.
“Some of these people will pretend to be selling flowers and will try and take your money as they sell. People have been caught out with this tactic before. The message to people is that these people are not on the breadline as many people may be led to believe. They should not be encouraged and the best way to do this is to not support them by giving them money,” said Sergeant Sheehan.
Fianna Fail councillor Joe Malone agreed with the Garda strategy and he raised the issue at the last meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council which was reported in the Kilkenny Advertiser, however nothing has changed.
“There is very little the gardaí can do about it until the law is changed,” he says.
“However it is a big problem. At the moment they are on the streets of the city but how long will it be before they are in our housing estates knocking on doors. We have to do something as it portrays a bad image of our city. We need to be encouraging tourism - not discouraging it,” he concluded.
