Over 250 Traveller families live in substandard housing
By Mary Dennehy
MORE than 250 of South Dublin County’s Traveller families are living in substandard housing, a local councillor has claimed.
In recent weeks, Sinn Fein councillor Louise Dunne visited halting sites in Tallaght and Clondalkin and spoke with residents who are living among exposed electrical cables, a lack of adequate storage facilities for gas cylinders, mouldy damp bedrooms and a host of other health and safety hazards.
Cllr Louise Dunne, who is a member of the Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee (LTACC), said: “The government’s announcement that councils have not drawn down €50 million for Traveller accommodation is inaccurate.
“The fact is that €4.5 million has only been allocated this year across the state, with South Dublin County Council applying for funding and receiving zero. The €50m that the Government is talking about is over a number of years.”
She added: “Currently, South County Dublin is home to over 500 Traveller families, with 250 of them in adequate housing.
“This is not down to the council’s unwillingness to provide housing, but the unwillingness of the Government to properly fund the council to do so.
“I have visited some of the sites across the county and it is shocking to see how some families are living.
“One particular site has electric cables running from caravan to caravan, with leaking water surrounding them.
“In the light of the tragic deaths of the families in Carrickmines, the Government needs to do more, so that another tragedy like this does not happen.”
According to South Dublin County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Programme 2014 – 2018, the number of Traveller’s identified in the 2011 Census in South Dublin County’s administrative area was 2,216 – which is the highest Traveller population in the Dublin region and the second highest population in the state.
The report outlines past progress made alongside proposals to upgrade existing sites and construct new developments between 2014 and 2018.
The council did not respond to The Echo, so a progress report on the programme was not received in time for print.
