While local people have been very welcoming to the new arrivals, the effect on business is indisputable. According to figures given to Ministers last week analysing the situation in 20 towns around the country, Killarney was experiencing the greatest impact of all tourist destinations in Ireland due the diversion of hotel beds to emergency accommodation.
“We need the Government to take responsibility for this... and information should be shared so people can get a better idea. We need facts not fiction,” she added.[ A recent council meeting heard how because of the demand for beds from both refugees and tourists there was now no emergency accommodation in Killarney for local families, and school-going children and their families facing eviction must go to Tralee.
Niall O’Callaghan, an Independent Killarney councillor whose family operate the Failte Hotel in College Street, said no one was speaking up for the struggling smaller business, the jarvey, the taxi driver or the souvenir shop owner. Mr O’Callaghan said he had predicted last year there would be a sharp fall in revenue if hundreds of tourism beds were diverted to emergency accommodation and took no satisfaction from being proven right. “I was not being negative. I think Killarney is the best town in the world and everyone should come here. I welcome Ukrainians but someone needs to speak up for the smaller sectors that are so badly hit.
He said the crackdown on the Airbnb sector in Killarney meant much of that short-term letting and self-catering was also now gone. This had an effect on restaurants and bars. “The Government need to think outside the box. Get rid of the rent pressure zones, get rid of the self-catering and Airbnb crackdown and open it up.”