Call to keep helpline up after crisis

THERE are calls for the helpline set up by Kerry County Council to assist people during the Coronavirus lockd-own to be maintained after the crisis is over.

The free-phone helpline – which is run by the council and involves a dozen agencies – was set up to help members of the public access non-emergency and non-medical services and to provide support and advice to people during the public health emergency.

The free-phone service operates on a seven-day basis from 8am to 8pm daily and is manned by Council staff, while Pierse and Fitzgibbon of Listowel also provide support on a pro-bono basis

The helpline – which is run from call centres in the Council Chamber in Áras an Chontae and the Ashe Memorial Hall in Tralee and at the Killorglin Area Services Centre – is focussed primarily on ensuring that vulnerable members of the community or those living alone can access deliveries of essential items such as groceries, medicine and fuel.

10,000 information leaflets, including details of the new freephone number and other information, were being distributed around the county at the end of March and the initiative has proved hugely successful. By last Wednesday, just three weeks after the service was first launched, Kerry County Council said the helpline has handled over 1,000 calls. As well as providing invaluable assistance to vulnerable and isolated members of the community all over the county, the phone line has also helped take significant pressure off other agencies, such as the HSE and the Gardaí.

On foot of the helplines success, Mayor of Tralee Cllr Jim Finucane has called for the service to be maintained, on a much-reduced scale, after the COVID-19 crisis eventually ends.

Mayor Finucane said the service has been tremendously successful and has provided a link between the council and other agencies and many people – often very isolated individuals – whose needs otherwise might not come to the attention of the agencies that are there to help them.