Travellers in south Dublin say they have been “betrayed” by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council as sites earmarked for Traveller accommodation are set to be removed from the forthcoming Traveller Accommodation Plan (TAP).
Geraldine Dunne, director of the Southside Travellers Action Group (Stag), is appealing to councillors, who will vote on the proposed reduction in new Traveller housing, to “please stand with us”. Stag and supporters will protest at the council on Monday evening.
They say the council-owned sites – at Greygates in Mount Merrion, Dodder Road in Rathfarnham and Bearna Park in Sandyford – were included as new lands for Traveller housing as a quid-pro-quo for them agreeing to the removal of three privately-owned sites as the latter were unlikely to be developed.
The removal from the new TAP, to run from 2025 to 2029, has been recommended by chief executive Frank Curran on the grounds of adverse impact on biodiversity and reduction in open space.
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“Travellers are among the most vulnerable households in the county,” said Ms Dunne. “As we approach the 10th anniversary of the Carrickmines tragedy next year, it is in incredible and disappointing that any public representative would vote to decrease the amount of desperately needed Traveller accommodation in the county.”
Ten people died in a fire at an unofficial halting site in Carrickmines, south Dublin, in October 2015. The tragedy prompted discussion about the inadequate and unsafe accommodation of many Travellers and local authorities’ role in that.
According to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council’s draft 2025-2039 TAP, 52 Traveller households need accommodation. The draft plan would provide 52 accommodation units, of which 11 are in the three contentious sites.
Ms Dunne said the county’s Traveller accommodation unit had promised earlier this year that if private sites at UCD, Enniskerry Road and Stillorgan were removed, six others would be added instead. That three of these could be removed amounted to “betrayal”.
TAP was put out to public consultation in July. A total of 1,045 submissions were received. Of these, 855 were about the three sites, of which two were “positive”.
Submissions argue Traveller housing would lead to an “increase in antisocial behaviour”; “increase in rubbish and illegal dumping”; and “horses on the road in heavy traffic”. Another says “the presence of a Traveller halting site will lower property values”, and that “the area already has its fair share of sites”. In commentary Mr Curran says the council will deal with most concerns under legislation.
However, on both Dodder Road and Greygates, Mr Curran says: “Having taken into account the submissions received in relation to biodiversity and considered them in more detail, it is proposed to remove these sites from the draft TAP.”
On Bearna Park, he says, having considered arguments that extending an access road to the site would “result in a reduction of the open space”, it should be removed.
Independent councillor Hugh Lewis, chairman of the Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee, said on Sunday “a clear choice” faced councillors. “Either vote to future-proof the provision of Traveller accommodation...or choose to plan to not to”.
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has been asked for a response.
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