THE village of Glengarriff, which has a winter population of about 250 people, is not equipped to deal with the influx of people in need of emergency accommodation.

‘Every Tom, Dick and Harry,’ is how Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) described the indiscriminate allocation of hostel accommodation to people looking to avoid homelessness.

Speaking at the bi-monthly Western Division housing meeting, he complained it is not just Cork City Council that is sending people west but other local authorities too.

He said the influx of some people, who could be described as undesirable because of their anti-social behaviour, is undermining the quality of life in the village.

Cllr Collins pointed out that Glengarriff is a famous tourism destination with thousands visiting the nature reserve, and nearby Garinish Island, every year.

But he told the new housing director, Keith Jones, that local business owners are seriously considering withholding the payment of rates to Cork County Council until the issue is sorted.

The councillor said he was inundated with calls from concerned locals asking if anything could be done to regulate the situation.

‘There could be 200 or 250 living in the village during the winter, but the population explodes in the summer,’ said Cllr Collins, who is of the opinion that the village is being used as ‘a dumping ground’.

Cllr Collins said he has raised public order and anti-social issues with An Garda Siochana. And he argued that if someone from Cork city is homeless they should be accommodated there.

‘Every Tom, Dick and Harry is being sent to Glengarriff and it is too small a village for that. Something will have to be done,’ he concluded.

The issue was raised at a number of local authority meetings in 2025 and 2026 with several councillors claiming that some residents fear for their personal safety and no longer go walking in the evening or night time.

Council officials advised the public representatives that if the emergency accommodation is privately-owned, the council does not have any say. It is a matter for the service providers to manage their own facilities.

At the meeting, Social Democrat Cllr Isobel Towse reminded council officials that her request for clarification about the way in which homeless figures are being recorded had not been addressed.

To get a true reflection of the situation she said the official figures should include who present as homeless to Cork County Council but are being refused emergency accommodation.

The housing director agreed that those numbers would be provided as part of the bi-monthly meeting about housing.

It was also agreed that the issue in relation to Glengarriff would be discussed at a meeting of the Regional Homeless Strategic Management Group.

This is a statutory body, led by local authority, that is responsible for the coordination of homelessness services, the development of regional action plans, and the allocation of funding under the 2009 Housing Act.