Conflict among Dun Laoghaire Rathdown county councillors over identifying locations for halting sites could lead to the county manager imposing a Traveller accommodation plan for the area.
The council has missed today's deadline for submitting its plan to the Department of Environment, as required under the Traveller Accommodation Act, 1998. Proposals are being discussed in secret ahead of a crunch meeting on April 11th. However, councillors say they are a long way from agreement.
If a plan is not adopted by the council within three weeks, the county manager will be entitled to implement one on his own.
Some 28 possible halting site locations were initially proposed by the manager. These have been reduced to 17 after negotiations between councillors.
One of the locations under consideration is Killiney Hill Park, which has already been the focus of strong local campaigning. In September 1998 the council decided by a majority of just two votes to initiate a Special Amenity Order for the area to protect it from halting site development.
Ms Betty Coffey (FF), who sponsored that motion, said yesterday the Traveller accommodation programme "has to be delivered, but not if it's going to impact on a high amenity area".
In Stillorgan, where local opposition has also been strong, two sites are to be selected from a short-list of three: UCD grounds, council depot lands at Mount Anville Road and a council allotment in Goatstown.
The other sites proposed are: Ballyman Road, Shankill; Bird Avenue, Clonskeagh; Booterstown Park; Cloragh, Ballinteer; Enniskerry Road, Sandyford; Gort Mhuire, Ballinteer; Glena muck Road, Kilternan; Lehaunstown, Loughlistown; Pottery Road, Dun Laoghaire; Rathmichael Road; Stillorgan Grove; Sandyford Industrial Park; and West Pier, Dun Laoghaire.
Ms Olivia Mitchell TD (FG) said it was possible every site would be legally challenged such was the level of opposition from residents. If that happened, she said, "you would have to question the sanity of the plan".
She said "there is huge public opposition to the principal of halting sites. People are asking whether it is suitable to house them in an area which is so densely populated, where literally every last bit of green space will be used. Also residents are asking why these are being built when their own children can't even live in the area. Instead, they have to go 50 miles away to get housing."
The council, which has not built a halting site in 15 years, has identified a need for 57 new halting site bays as well as 10 group housing and 20 standard housing units by the end of 2004. An estimated 126 Traveller families live in the area, comprising 600 individuals, almost half of whom are either on the roadside or in temporary accommodation.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown is one of just six local authorities yet to submit a five-year Traveller accommodation plan to the Department.
