Residents want action on Main Street begging

GARDAI have received complaints from a local residents’ association about continuing incidents of begging on Wexford’s Main Street.

A spokesman said gardai are aware of concerns about the problem and are following them up. ‘We are stepping up beat patrols for Christmas and that will be one of the issues we will be looking at’, he said.

Eamonn Colfer, Chairman of Trimmers Lane Residents Association in Selskar said the members are ‘deeply concerned’ about the problem of begging in town and have called for action to be taken by the local authority and the gardai.

‘Under the Criminal Justice Act of 2011, as long as these men are not actively soliciting for money, they are not committing a crime’, he said.

‘But part B of this same act deems it illegal to form an obstruction. This shouldn’t be difficult to establish when a person is lying on the footpath in a thoroughfare, forcing people with wheelchairs and walking aids to move into the street’.

Mr. Colfer said begging is outlawed by a Wexford local authority bye-law relating to the enjoyment of open spaces which forbids ‘Horseriding animals in public open spaces; damaging natural amenities and wildlife; allowing unmuzzled dogs to wander; unlicensed ferreting; vandalism; discharging of firearms, syringes, catapults or fireworks; begging; removal of soil, sand or gravel; unlicensed trading; camping spitting or littering.’

‘To my knowledge, these byelaws have not been amended or repealed. So the issue then becomes who is responsible for their enforcement’.

Recently, 15 people were arrested for obstruction in Cork city centre as part of a Garda operation targeting suspected organised begging activity.

Many of those arrested were from Eastern Europe while a number were Irish nationals. The Garda response followed concerns raised by businesses about begging in the city.

The Trimmers Lane residents’ association chairman has also written to the Chamber of Commerce about the problem.