‘ THE PROPERTY IS MINE’

IN the aftermath of the removal of fencing and the re- painting of lines at Connaughton Road Car Park, Mrs Matilda McGinley told The Sligo Champion that the families living there would not be leaving now.

“I’m not leaving now. The council knows for the past 30 years that I wanted to leave but they can put me out now if they wish. The property is mine, I’m 34 years here.

“The council knows we never wanted to be here. Hundreds of times we told them that. They have plenty of land on the Bundoran Road they could have given us.

“I’ll not be leaving now, not after the children being injured here this morning. The children had their arms pulled off them.

“Everyone seems to have rights but we have none. Let them do what they want now,” said Mrs McGinley, a widow, who lives at the car park with her extended family and their families.

Mrs McGinley claimed the council had been building up their hopes from time to time but “had always let them down in the end.”

Mrs McGinley declined to speak to a council official who arrived in the car park shortly after the workmen and Gardaí had left.

“I’m finished with them now,” she said, adding; “they ( Council) never did anything for us.”

The official said he would speak again at a later date but Mrs McGinley told him she wouldn’t be doing so.

A Council report from earlier this month stated that three sites identified by the council offered the potential to deliver a solution.

“On Thursday last, the Council facilitated a viewing of all three sites for the family and their representatives. It is hoped that a meaningful process of dialogue and engagement can develop which would produce an outcome that provides improved living conditions for the family who have publicly declared their desire to move from their present location,” stated the report which was drawn up by Bartley Gavin ( as Director for Housing) and Tom Kilfeather ( Director for Infrastructure). SEE MORE ON PAGE 6