HELL ON EARTH
No electricity or running water, filthy bedding on creaking pallets, rubbish & rancid scraps strewn everywhere. Pitiful squalor makes it...
THESE shocking photos show the slum-like conditions a group believed to be Roma immigrants are living in on the outskirts of an affluent town.
It is understood up to 20 people are camping in squalor at a derelict building close to the M7 motorway in Naas, Co Kildare.
The site has no running water or sanitation and no electricity and the sleeping quarters comprise of filthy mattresses on top of wooden pallets. These pictures taken just days ago show jeans hanging on a clothesline which indicates people are staying there.
The abandoned warehouse near the Ball sculpture at the Naas exit off the motorway has also clearly been used as a dumping ground for some time. Just days ago a van was set on fire on nearby wasteground and the outhouses are riddled with damp and mildew.
Kildare Deputy Fiona O’loughlin, Fianna Fail’s spokeswoman for Equality, Integration and immigration, said it was unthinkable people could be living in such an environment.
She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I find these pictures absolutely shocking. To think in this day and age people would be living in conditions like this is unbelievable.
“The mattresses and bed linen are clearly damp and there’s no type of heating, no type of power.
“It’s incredible to think that so close to ordinary civilisation people could be living like that. It’s appalling.
“I will be asking council officials to go out and meet with the people who are staying there to see what help and support we can give them.”
This is not the first time a makeshift encampment near a motorway has made headlines. In 2007 more than 100
It’s incredible to think that so close to ordinary civilisation people are living like that FIONA O’LOUGHLIN TD EXPRESSED HER SHOCK AT SQUALOR
Romanians set up home on a roundabout on Dublin’s busy M50 ring road.
A Garda spokesman said they are aware of the Naas situation.
Pavee Point’s Roma project co-ordinator Siobhan Curran added: “No one should be living in an abandoned warehouse in Ireland today.
“This needs to be addressed as a human rights issue. We know it’s not an isolated incident. We have reports of people living in overcrowded, rat-infested properties totally unfit for human habitation, some with no electricity or heat.
“The Roma community are particularly vulnerable where sub-standard accommodation is concerned and we would ask Housing Minister Simon Coveney to intervene and prevent cases like this.”