The voices of Travellers not ‘listened to’

A representative of the Traveller Support Group has claimed he was told by two senior housing officials within Sligo County Council that the Glenview halting site was being earmarked as accommodation for the McGinley family of Connaughton Road.

This is despite councillors insistence before the vote that it was not yet decided what family would move into the six halting bays once they’ve been refurbished.

Speaking to The Sligo Champion outside Riverside Council buildings after the proposal to refurbish Glenview was passed by a majority of councillors, Jamie Murphy said: “Two senior officials in the County Council Housing Department did confirm to us that is their plan for Glenview - to move the two families together.”

“We’re really, really disappointed because the voice of the Traveller families are not listened to, the Traveller organisations haven’t been listen to, the 250 people who signed objections haven’t been listened to, the LTACC (Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee) have not, which is why we resigned.

“We spoke to every single councillor about this, put our message across.

“The voice of the Garda hasn’t been listened to - they said it was a bad idea.

“Every single councillor in there should be ashamed of themselves, with the exception of Cllrs Gino O’Boyle and Declan Bree. We’re very disappointed in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Sinn Féin Councillors,” he said.

When it was put to him that the Government was providing ¤900,000 for the project, Murphy said: “You don’t spend money for the sake of spending money - you develop good accommodation that’s sustainable for the future. You don’t just spend it on whatever Ciarán Hayes puts in front of you.

“This is an example of really bad planning and the councillors in there today made a really bad decision.

“It’s going to be very hard for us to work together in the future, if at all.”

Murphy said he would not consider rejoining the LTACC.