Council proposes new site to house Carrickmines fire families

Site is on Glenamuck road is close to scene of fatal blaze which killed 10 people last year

Gardaí inspect  the scene of a fatal fire at a halting site on Glenamuck Road in Dublin  last October. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has proposed  a new site for those affected by the blaze on the same road. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw.
Gardaí inspect the scene of a fatal fire at a halting site on Glenamuck Road in Dublin last October. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has proposed a new site for those affected by the blaze on the same road. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is proposing that a new permanent halting site be developed on Glenamuck Road to accommodate families affected by the fatal Carrickmines fire.

The council said it was embarking on a statutory process to deliver accommodation for the families in the aftermath of the fire in which 10 people died, including five children. The blaze engulfed a cabin and a caravan on a temporary halting site on Glenamuck Road last October.

Last week, The Irish Times reported that a Traveller family who survived the fire fear they could be made homeless again next month.

Josie Connors, who is now caring for her grandchildren Thomas (4) and Mick (7) who also survived the fire, was told by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council they must leave the temporary accommodation they are in by April.

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Following the fire, the council planned to temporarily accommodate the 15 surviving members of the Connors family at a nearby site, adjacent to houses on Rockville Drive.

Protests by residents saw the council change their plan, and the family was placed at a council-owned car park on Ballyogan Road.

The families of those who died in the Carrickmines fire were invited to discuss the plan on Wednesday.

The council said the halting site had been identified for development in its Traveller Accommodation Programme 2014-2018.

The proposal will open for public consultation on the council’s website early nect month as part of the planning process.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said it was committed to delivering this accommodation in accordance with the accommodation programme, subject to the statutory consultative process.