Convoy of UK Travellers sets up camp on the Curragh and fuels fears among locals
Gardaí f looded with complaints as 25 vans land by ferry at docks
A CONVOY of 25 families and caravans arrived in Ireland by ferry in the midst of lockdown before making their way to the Curragh in Co. Kildare where they set up camp, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Gardaí are ‘actively monitoring’ the situation after receiving numerous complaints about a ‘blatant disregard of the social distancing rules’ among the Travelling community at the camp.
Over the bank holiday weekend, two vans ‘drove straight through’ a Garda checkpoint without stopping and in through the entrance.
Gardaí are also aware of three more caravans which arrived later in the week.
A source said: ‘Three more are after getting in there somehow, they arrived surreptitiously on Friday night.’
Martin Collins of Traveller organisation Pavee Point told the MoS it is ‘inexcusable’ that the group arrived from the UK during lockdown.
‘But my question would be, if they only arrived here on April 9, which is during the first lockdown, how in the name of God would a ferry company allow something like that in the middle of a national health emergency,’ he asked.
Gardaí are understood to be trying to give advice to the Travellers about social distancing, but those in the camp were ‘not engaging’.
A source said: ‘The gardai’s hands are tied. They are monitoring the situation, but by moving them now the gardaí could cause them to breach lockdown.’
The MoS has learned the members of the Travelling community arrived into Ireland by ferry from Bedfordshire, England, on April 9, two days after new Garda powers to enforce Covid19 restrictions were signed into law.
Around 25 vehicles and their accompanying caravans travelled to Walsh’s Hill in the Curragh where they met a smaller group of travellers from Tullamore who had arrived the day beforehand.
The army has responsibility for the land where the camp is based and it is considered an area of conservation and ‘special significance’.
The MoS saw children playing together and adults coming and going from the camp when we visited this week. A single Garda car drove up to the camp to take a look before driving away again.
A source told the MoS: ‘They arrived at the camp during lockdown when we were all supposed to be staying within our 2km radius and have been out and about the whole time. There is a blatant disregard for social distancing rules and there has been a number of complaints in relation to the camp.’
Two sets of vehicles from the camp drove ‘straight through’ a Garda checkpoint without stopping last weekend and disappeared into the camp.
Another source said: ‘There have been a number of complaints to local representatives, the military and the gardaí, but there is very little that can be done.
‘They’re here now and the gardaí can’t move them on during lockdown because everyone is supposed to stay within 2km of where they were when the powers came into effect.’ This is not the first report of members of the Travelling community ignoring health crisis rules.
Armed gardaí tasked with keeping a ‘watching brief’ on a Traveller funeral late last month noticed another a more silent threat in the form of ‘no social distancing’.
‘We had a big funeral last month and there was no social distancing happening,’ a source added.
‘The man who died was from Athlone and the armed support were there to ensure it passed off peacefully, but noticed people were not keeping their distance.’
The MoS has learned Pavee Point sent a video to the Travelling
‘How would a ferry company allow that in an emergency?’
community in Longford after a number of incidents of groups behaving, drinking and socialising as normal were observed by gardaí.
Officers were also forced to break up a party of around a dozen people who had gathered at a halting site for a drinking party last week. A number of those there were at a 21st birthday party at a house on Richmond Street in the town a week previous involving around 80 people.
A source said there has been concern in the town about people gathering in groups, socialising and drinking together and until earlier this week the Garda did not have the enforcement powers to send people home.
Meanwhile, there was outrage in Offaly this week after more than 150 members of the Traveller community attended a burial in a small cemetery in Birr. More than 50 cars and vans were parked outside the cemetery, prompting fears in the local community.
Gardai spoke to the priest and the family on the day of the ceremony and social distancing was observed in the cemetery, but a large number of people arrived later.
Mr Collins from Pavee Point said that they have negotiated with the Government and gardaí that Travellers are to stay put for the duration of lockdown.
‘First of all we have given out a very clear message on all of our social media platforms and by other means to Travellers in the UK or Ireland itself that people need to stay put,’ he added.
‘We have negotiated an agreement with the Department of the Environment on Housing and the Garda that if Travellers stay put where they are, even if it is an unofficial site, they will not be evicted for the duration of this coronavirus.
‘We are constantly in touch with the gardaí on a number of different situations right across the country where Travellers are parked and we are asking them not to go travelling, not to move, to stay where they are. Please obey the restrictions. The same message would be for the Travellers of the Curragh.’
Mr Collins added: ‘I think there are some questions there for the ferry companies, as there is for Ryanair transporting 200 Eastern Europeans in to pick fruit for Keelings.
‘I don’t know why these big airline or ferry companies are allowing this to happen in the middle of a pandemic, a global health crisis.
‘But we are very clear as a Traveller organisation, and as a Traveller man I am very clear, that this sort of movement is not acceptable, it is inexcusable at this time.
‘At this time of year traditionally Travellers would take to the road and it is a very important part of our cultural identity to be nomadic. But our traditions would have to take a back seat for the moment.’
‘150 Travellers attended a burial in Birr’