Ailing Travellers want home with heat and water

An elderly Traveller couple in chronic ill health has been living on a "temporary" halting site for eight years in a mobile home with no toilet or running water.

Yesterday they secured High Court leave to bring a legal challenge aimed at securing a heated caravan or mobile home with plumbing.

The court heard Brigid Doherty was almost 70, and was admitted to Tallaght hospital extremely ill on December 12th.

While she was now well enough to go home, she remained in hospital because her medical advisers did not wish to release her until her living conditions improved.

"Our everyday life has no comfort, and we simply struggle to survive from day to day," said Paddy Doherty (74), husband of Ms Doherty.

"I love my wife deeply . . . the prospect of losing my wife due to her ill health fills me with dread. I feel I can no longer stand by watching my wife's health deteriorating from day to day without doing something."

He did not believe a house was the appropriate solution to their problems. Their poor living conditions could be just as well addressed through the provision of a properly heated and insulated mobile home with an indoor toilet and shower. "What my wife and I seek is simply a home in which we can safely live."

Senior counsel Eoin McCullough, for the Dohertys, yesterday secured leave from Mr Justice Michael Peart to bring an action against South Dublin County Council and the State in which the Dohertys will seek orders compelling the defendants to provide them with a centrally-heated, insulated and internally-plumbed caravan.

The couple claim the failure to provide such a caravan breaches their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, the Equal Status Act, the Housing Acts and the Constitution.

The couple, who have been married for 53 years, have lived in a second-hand mobile home at Lynch's Lane, Clondalkin, since 1998. During that time the mobile home has became increasingly decrepit, with draughts and dampness a major problem.

In an affidavit Mr Doherty said it was impossible to keep warm during the winter as the couple could only use one electric heater in the sittingroom. As a result, they slept there. They could only use one electrical appliance at a time as the fuse blew if they tried to use more.

This created a particular difficulty because his wife, who has chronic obstructive airways disease and is seriously asthmatic, must use an electric nebuliser for 16 hours daily otherwise she would be unable to breathe.

Mr Doherty said the couple had 17 children, three of whom died in infancy, and some 100 grandchildren. Most of their children lived in the UK.

He and his wife lived alone. Their only income was the old-age pension. He now spent most of every day at the hospital, coming home only for lunch and to sleep.

They found it increasingly difficult to put up with the lack of proper facilities at Lynch's Lane. They had an outdoor cold water tap, an outdoor flush toilet, an electricity connection, no cooking or washing facilities and no indoor plumbing. Their bedclothes and clothing were cold and damp.

Mr Doherty said both he and his wife were in poor health. He was aware both of them would be considered very elderly among the Traveller community as only 1 per cent of Travellers lived to the age of 65.

His wife had caught pneumonia three times since moving to Lynch's Lane due to damp. He also suffered chronic ill health, with obstructive airways disease, asthma and hypertension.