The Garda is to consider round-the-clock protection of a health board house near Swords, Co Dublin, following the escalation of a protest by local residents campaigning against the relocation of psychiatric patients from nearby St Ita's Hospital.
A cacophony of car horns shattered the peace in Lispopple yesterday as residents drove up and down outside Carlton House while Northern Area Health Board nursing staff arrived for training. Gardai maintained a low-key presence.
Residents of the quiet country road have been protesting outside Carlton House for nearly three months. Gardai were called on several occasions when contractors engaged in repair work following £30,000 worth of vandalism, alleged intimidation. The local residents and protesters deny any intimidation of the workers or any hand in the vandalism.
A leaflet handed out yesterday said anyone passing the picket would be "spurned and boycotted" and there would be "no contact" between the residents and anyone working in Carlton House. Twelve weeks' picketing was "only the beginning", the leaflet said.
A number of men stood outside Carlton House, some carrying placards making reference to the health board and its chairwoman, Ms Anne Devitt, who lives a short distance from the bungalow which will become home to six people with a mental illness. Ms Devitt, a local councillor, supports the move.
The Lispopple residents' principal fear appears to be for their safety and that of their property, although the health board insists those fears are unjustified. It would not be in "anyone's interest" to place residents in Carl ton House, or any community home, where they would potentially pose a danger to the general community, said health board sources.
A spokesman for the Lispopple and Balcultry Residents' Association said there had been no consultation with the residents and their fear was that the health board would not take responsibility for the six people once they walked outside the gates of Carlton House.
The health board said it had replied to up to 30 letters from the group and that the residents had also met the board's chief executive, Ms Maureen Windle, and senior St Ita's staff. They had been assured the health board was at all times responsible for the patients.
It is understood that three of the residents were to be moved into the house today. However, the board was reluctant to discuss the date of the move.