A woman has been permitted to seek court orders directing a county council to procure land near to her children’s schools where she can place her caravan on an emergency basis.
Victoria Keenan (née Harty), who is a member of the Traveller community, and her five young children are currently living in a caravan that is parked at the end of a cul-de-sac on the edge of Sixmilebridge, Co Clare.
The mobile home has been at this location since about August 2023 because, she claims, they have no other home and have never had an authorised location for it.
While she says it “obstructs no one”, it is clear from her account and that of a Garda superintendent that its location has caused tensions among locals and has led to protest meetings and anger, said Mr Justice Conleth Bradley ruling on her application for permission to seek judicial review.
Previously, she and other members of her family based themselves on the edges of a ring road on disused fields and roads. During the pandemic, she said, the council provided portable toilets and waterdrums notwithstanding the unauthorised nature of the siting.
She and her family (going back to the time of her grandmother) found “out-of-the-way” places to live around Ennis and Limerick but were ordered to leave and served with summonses by gardaí, she said.
She then parked in the car park of Sixmilebridge railway station, during which period her eldest child started in a nearby school. The caravan was removed by gardaí with assistance from Clare County Council, which Ms Keenan described as a traumatic experience, the judge said.
She later retrieved her caravan and brought it to the cul-de-sac where it remains.
The High Court has since last August granted Ms Keenan temporary injunctions restraining gardaí or the council from taking possession of her caravan.
Her application seeking the court’s permission to pursue her claim was opposed by Clare County Council and the Commissioner of An Garda Síochana, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Mr Justice Bradley said Ms Keenan, who was not legally represented, met the “relatively low threshold” of showing some of her claims are “arguable” or “stateable”.
He said she can pursue her case against the council in so far as it relates to its alleged responsibility to procure land for her to park her caravan on an emergency basis within reach of her schools and to supply basic toilet and water facilities.
He refused to allow her to continue her claim against the Garda Commissioner and the State parties, represented by Joe Jeffers SC, as her concerns relating to them have now been addressed.
The judge explained that, following legal advice taken in response to her action, An Garda Síochána withdrew a notice it served on Ms Keenan under section 19C of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act. The gardaí also confirmed no further notice would be issued regarding the parking of her caravan at this precise location.
Luán Ó'Braonáin SC, on behalf of Clare County Council, submitted that Ms Keenan has refused a number of reasonable offers of accommodation. The local authority’s efforts to source appropriate accommodation will continue, while she is also invited to source private rented accommodation using the housing assistance payment, he told the court.
Ms Keenan maintained that some of the offers were in areas that are unsafe for the family, while another offer of a home was in an area that was too run-down.
After she initiated these proceedings, the council offered her five sites for her to park her caravan on a temporary basis for which it would carry out works on an urgent basis. The cul-de-sac is “not a suitable location” for Ms Keenan’s caravan to remain even on a temporary basis, the council told the court.
The council told the court it has more than 2,800 households on its housing waiting list.
Mr Justice Bradley gave Ms Keenan permission to pursue part of her claim and said he will hear from the parties as to further orders that may be required.
The judge said she has not established any arguable or stateable grounds to support her claim for damages against the council.
