Tourist town accused of racism on ‘a large scale’

IMMIGRANTS are being treated shamefully in one of the country’s leading tourist towns, Amnesty International said yesterday.

The organisation’s local branch in Killarney, Co Kerry, has received dozens of calls from asylum seekers who have experienced “sheer, undiluted racism” in the town.

Some local residents have a zero tolerance attitude to poor non-nationals, Killarney Amnesty spokesperson Bea O’Neill said. Many immigrants are without homes and employment and they find it almost impossible to get help, she said.

“Killarney is not prepared to give until it hurts. If it is to live up to its town of the welcomes tag then everybody should be treated on an equal basis regardless of their skin colour, creed, religion or accent,” Ms O’Neill said.

“There is a lot of window dressing going on but people, especially Africans, are being treated disgracefully,” she said.

The situation is so bad that two African girls walk 45 minutes to school to avoid racist taunts from teenagers on their bus.

“Why would these girls spend that long walking if there weren’t serious problems,” Ms O’Neill asked.

Landlords are refusing to rent apartments to black people and employers won’t give jobs to people because of their skin colour, Ms O’Neill claimed.

“We know this is happening outside Killarney as well, but this is a town that supposedly welcomes visitors.

“But it only welcomed white Americans and now it gives the very worst jobs to Africans and Asians. Racism is being dished out on a very large scale,” she said.

Immigrants who find work in Killarney get as little as 2.50 an hour and they are forced to live in atrocious conditions, Ms O’Neill said. However, outgoing Killarney Mayor Sheila Casey defended the town’s treatment of non-nationals last night.

“Many people from outside Ireland work in the hospitality sector here and I can’t agree with what Amnesty says,” she said.

The Fine Gael mayor, who has spent the last 12 months in the job, said she has never experienced racism in the town.

“I don’t think it is an issue. I am a member of a women’s group that includes Nigerian women. There might be the odd isolated incident but that’s all it is,” Ms Casey said.

Killarney Chamber of Commerce also dismissed Ms O’Neill’s claims.

“We have a very active and progressive non-national community here who are liked a lot. ,” chamber chairman Gerry O’Grady said.

However, Ms O’Neill insisted she had proof of numerous racist incidents.