Renewed calls for permanent halting sites

THE Irish Travellers' Movement has renewed calls for local authorities to concentrate on providing permanent rather than temporary halting sites following yesterday's Supreme Court judgment.

Ms Graine O'Toole, of the ITM's accommodation committee, said she was not surprised by the judgment, describing temporary facilities such as the one proposed at Blackglen Road as, "ghettos". At 20 bays, she said, the site would have been too large and would have lasted about 10 years.

Ms Alice Binchy, of STAG (Southside Travellers' Action Group), said that despite the decision, there was an urgent need to provide accommodation for the estimated 40 traveller families living on the roadside in the area.

A spokeswoman for the Sandyford residents' group, Ms Gearoidin O'Dwyer, said they were relieved at the decision.

"We feel our anxieties were justified and that we have been vindicated. We often felt we were being portrayed as anti traveller but in fact we have very serious concerns about the safety of that site.

She said that residents would not object to a small, well maintained site being built in the area.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council declined to comment on the Supreme Court decision.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment would not comment on any possible implications of the case until the judgment had been studied.