Bishop calls for increase in public sites for Travellers

The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, has appealed to local authorities in Co Clare to provide public land for temporary halting sites as an emergency measure to overcome the current Traveller accommodation crisis in Clare.

At his Westbourne diocesan residence in Ennis yesterday, which he has made available as an unauthorised halting site for more than 50 Travellers, Dr Walsh said: "The only way out of the current crisis situation is for the public authorities to make public land available as a temporary measure."

He said: "If it was possible to place three or four families in each plot where you could put down a hard surface, but ultimately the solution is the provision of permanent halting sites."

Accompanying his appeal, Dr Walsh yesterday laid down a deadline of August 15th for the Travellers to move on from his grounds.

Explaining that he was embarking on a diocesan pilgrimage to Rome on that date, Dr Walsh said: "I'm aware of worries of my neighbours and do not want to cause them inconvenience. I also have to take into account other people who are using the house and who may not find it as easy to cope with the situation as I do."

Dr Walsh said that date gave "a reasonable amount of time" to see if there an interim solution was possible.

"I don't want in any way to be seen in opposition to the public authorities. I appreciate their difficulties. I honestly think it is time to try to come to grips with the problem, otherwise we are only storing up further difficulties for the future."

The current crisis in accommodation was precipitated by a move by Ennis gardaí last Tuesday removing and confiscating Traveller caravans from public areas around Ennis under the recently passed Housing (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 2002.

To avoid having their caravans confiscated, 12 Traveller families have since sought refuge on the bishop's front lawn.

With 12 caravans and as many vans and cars on the 1½- acre site, Dr Walsh expressed the fear that the grounds might turn into a "quagmire" if the weather changed.

With no access to toilet facilities, Ms Winnie Mongans, who has three children, said they were forced to use the nearby bushes within the bishop's garden or facilities at the nearby 24-hour petrol filling station as toilets.

"What can we do? My youngest is only seven weeks old. It is a difficult situation that we are all in, but we are very thankful for the bishop for allowing us stay here."

Dr Walsh continued: "The current crisis has created a realisation amongst Travellers that they just can't park anywhere they want to. I think that they might be more ready now to move to some place that might not be their first choice."

He intervened "because I thought it was a crisis situation".

He said: "If somebody knocks at your door as someone did the other night and she has a child of two years old and is pregnant with another child, she is also terrified that her caravan is going to be taken, it is very hard to say to someone like that 'look, you can't come in'."

However, any prospect of the councils providing public land as a temporary measure for Travellers appeared remote yesterday.

The chairman of Ennis Town Council, Mr Peter Considine (FF), said: "While Dr Walsh's initiative is very well intentioned and very Christian, I believe the idea of the council providing lands is a non-runner and would be in breach of the recent legislation passed."

The accommodation shortage is likely to continue for at least another six months with a spokeswoman for the county council stating yesterday that its first permanent site for the Ennis area would not be ready until January or February of next year.

In all, it is expected to cost the council more than €8 million to provide a necklace of halting sites around Ennis or €200,000 on each family.

The town has been without a permanent halting site since February 1997.