Gardaí write to Wexford County Council to urge them not to direct homeless people to garda station

Sinn Féin councillor Tom Forde raised the matter at the latest meeting of Wexford County Council, noting that “it’s happening quite frequently” that people are being turned away to Ozanam House and sent to Wexford garda station because there’s no beds available for them.

Director of Housing at Wexford County Council Carolyne Godkin denied that Wexford County Council was “failing the homeless people of the county” and stated that people were only referred to the garda station “when there's a threat to life and we cannot guarantee the safety of an individual or other individuals. The only people who are referred to the guards are families who are homeless outside hours”.

Having been contacted by Cllr Forde, Wexford Gardaí distanced themselves from providing any services for homeless people seeking shelter.

"Correspondence has been forwarded to Wexford County Council advising them that a Garda Station is not a designated place of safety and no such national policy of referring homeless persons to Garda Stations for shelter exists,” the garda reply stated.

"Accordingly, a request was made not to direct individuals to the Garda Station going forward. An Garda Síochána advises that this is a matter for the local authority to resolve.

"Garda Stations have no facilities to accommodate homeless families or individuals and are not suitable locations for homeless people from a health and safety perspective.”

Cllr Forde raised the matter once again at last week’s meeting of the Wexford Borough District, but was asked to bring the correspondence from An Garda Síochána to the Housing Director’s attention at the next full sitting of Wexford County Council.