Clare County Council is to spend about €250,000 to demolish a €1.5 million emergency Traveller accommodation unit, built four years ago to ease Ennis's Traveller accommodation crisis.
Part of the estimated €250,000 expenditure is to be invested in implementing a consultant's report recommending that green space in the area be upgraded for the residents of the Gleninagh part of Ennis.
The cost of constructing the site was €1.5 million, while legal costs associated with a High Court agreement with local residents to allow the site go ahead came to €207,000.
As part of the High Court agreement in 2001, the council agreed to provide 24-hour security at the site costing €9,000 a month, which has resulted in a security bill estimated at €378,000.
The High Court agreement had stipulated that the site - adjacent to St Claire's special-needs school - be demolished within four years of it opening.
In advance of the site being demolished, the council relocated the eight Traveller families to a new €3 million emergency site on Ennis's Quin Road last October.
That site was built after county manager Alec Fleming bypassed the planning process through emergency legislation.
Since the Gleninagh site was first built, the council has spent over €12 million in accommodating Travellers on other sites and greatly reduced the numbers of Travellers living on the roadside.
Another aspect of the High Court agreement was to implement the findings of a report by CAAS Environmental Services Ltd, which focused on a 17.5-acre site near the Gleninagh site.
The report stated that the area should contain a games area, a passive amenity area and a pathway from adjacent estates to the area in question.
The council has held discussions in recent weeks with representatives from the local residents and St Claire's School to see what part of the CAAS plan can now be implemented.
The proposed works programme with the Department of the Environment has been lodged and a final costing on the works is expected back within a couple of weeks.
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