Gardaí: Don’t generalise homeless

Any generalisation that all homeless people have addiction issues and engage in criminality has been described as “incorrect and simplistic” by a garda spokesperson.

In an official statement issued to the Cork Independent, the spokesperson described homelessness as a “complex societal issue” which requires multi-agency cooperation and primarily falls under the remit of the local authority.

The spokesperson said addictions are primarily a health-related issue upon which the HSE is in a “better place to comment”.

“An Garda Síochána, through community policing teams in particular, collaborate with state agencies, homelessness services and homeless NGOs on a near daily basis to offer assistance and support to these most vulnerable members of society,” the spokesperson said.

The statement comes following recent reports in Cork city of young adults offering sex in exchange for money to buy drugs.

These reports coincided with comments made by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Deirdre Forde, who recently told RTÉ Radio 1’s ‘Drivetime’ that she feels unsafe in certain parts of the city and that more garda presence is required on the streets of Cork in the interest of public safety.

Figures released in the Department of Housing’s Monthly Homelessness Report showed that the number of homeless adults in Cork reached a record of 529 in January this year, jumping from 503 in December.

The garda statement continued: “Overall there are approximately 1,200 more gardaí than there were 6 years ago. Cork City Division has over 700 sworn garda members, a 10% increase on 2016.

“In addition, garda staff numbers have increased by 1,200 in recent years. This has enabled more than 800 gardaí to be released from administrative roles to operational duties in areas such as tackling street level drug dealing, and preventing and detecting sexual crime and domestic abuse.”

The statement also confirmed that a fresh advertising campaign will go live in the coming months as part of a plan to run annualised recruitment competitions going forward. This follows a similar recruitment campaign in 2022.