Homeowners fear court injunction in Traveller site row
HOMEOWNERS fear they will be slapped with a High Court injunction if they continue fighting an emergency halting site for Travellers who survived a fire that killed ten people.
A group of residents in Carrickmines, Co. Dublin, is opposed to plans to place the bereaved family for six months on a halting site just off their road. Discussions between both sides reached no agreement last night.
Now they fear Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council officials will seek a court injunction to prevent the homeowners from frustrating work to house the survivors of last weekend’s blaze.
The homeowners of Rockville Drive, Carrickmines, have been blockading the proposed site but may be forced to move aside – or face arrest – if the High Court grants an injunction.
Breaching an injunction is a serious offence and can lead to jail for contempt. Residents continued to block entry to the site yesterday but a number of people in favour of the use of the site for the survivors also attended. Homeowners told the Mail:
‘Problems with proposed site’
‘We do not want to be bullied on this, we have a legitimate case.’
But supporters carried placards with slogans such as ‘Where is the unity in this community?’ and ‘Without unity there’s no community’.
Local authority off i ci al s had described the talks with homeowners yesterday as ‘constructive’.
A spokesman for the council said the temporary accommodation on the one-acre site would only be for six months. Homeowners are sceptical as the site where the Travellers perished was originally a temporary site.
The council has promised residents the emergency site would be ‘decommissioned’ after six months.
Labour councillor Lettie McCarthy told RTÉ Radio there are pre-existing problems with the proposed site.
‘There’s just a footpath each side. It’s a very narrow entrance in. They have no place to park their cars except on the road so it’s very difficult to access,’ she said.
‘That has always been a difficulty. It hasn’t been invented because residents don’t want Travellers going into that site. It has always been an issue between residents and the council.’
Homeowners in Rockville Drive said the site was unsuitable for use as temporary accommodation and have insisted they are not anti-Traveller.
The Southside Travellers Action Group said it was hopeful a deal could be reached ‘very soon’ for rehousing the survivors of the blaze. Five adults and five children died in the fire, including a six-month-old girl and a pregnant woman.
Talks are expected to continue today between Carrickmines residents and the council. The Mail understands the survivors are being housed 20 kilometres away from the site of the fire and are in accommodation described as ‘adequate for now’.
Travellers’ group spokesman Geraldine Dunne said: ‘The longer that this situation goes on, the situation creates anger, and there is anger starting to fester in the community. We just want it to hurry on and be fixed.
‘In relation to the meeting, one of the things that came out of it was that it was effective and constructive. Residents are gone away with making a list of some of the priorities that the council can help them with to ensure there’s a little bit of comfort to them while these families get to move in.’
A council spokesman described yesterday’s meeting as constructive, saying: ‘All of us involved recognise the situation which exists and are working to both address the issues of concern while recognising that there is a critical need to provide accommodation and a temporary home for the survivors of last week’s tragedy.’
‘The council understands the concerns of the local residents and will introduce whatever measures are under our control to address these issues directly and promptly.’