Breda McDonagh takes The Irish Times tape recorder in her hands and sings her favourite song from the charts: "I'm a big, big girl in a big, big world, it's not a big, big thing if you leave me . . . " Breda is not a big girl. She's six, but she's in imminent danger of growing up very fast.
Her parents, Michael and Brigid, are no longer sure what to tell Breda and their other four children about the house they have been fantasising about for months. Arthur, for example, wants a bunk bed and, in common with every other five-year-old boy with big sisters, a key so that he can lock them out.
How do you tell a five-year-old that he can't sleep in a bunk bed because he's a Traveller? Michael and Brigid hope it won't come to that.
The seven McDonaghs live in a caravan at the Shandon halting site on the outskirts of Dungarvan. The family has lived at the site for 10 years, but has now - after five years on a waiting list - been allocated a house by Waterford County Council. The decision to assign them the home, a detached house in The Burgery, on the main Waterford road, sparked extraordinary scenes at a meeting of the council last week.
Some of the McDonaghs' would-be neighbours have started a campaign to keep the family out of their area. When councillors supporting the residents sought to object to the allocation, things became so heated that the gardai were called - though in the end their presence wasn't needed.
At one stage, Independent councillor Garry O'Halloran, a long-time supporter of Travellers' rights, was standing on a table, arms outstretched, accusing his fellow council members of being racist and of inciting hatred towards the Travelling community.
When the meeting, which was adjourned amid the chaotic scenes, resumed on Monday, the council chairwoman, Ms Nora Flynn (FG), refused to allow any further debate on the issue. She said the allocation of council houses was a reserved function of the county manager, Mr Donal Connolly, whose decision was final. However, Labour councillor Billy Kyne, who said the public was entitled to advance consultation about such decisions, said he would table a Section 4 motion for next month's council meeting - referring to the mechanism under which councillors can direct a manager to take a particular action. In the meantime, Brigid McDonagh asks: "What do I tell the children about the house now? Are we getting it or not?" The McDonaghs had watched the proceedings on Monday from the public gallery, sitting impassively alongside a 17-strong group of residents and their supporters.
In a letter to the county manager via a solicitor, and circulated to each council member, The Burgery Concerned Residents' Group criticised the "underhand and secretive manner" in which the house was purchased by the council.
"Our clients feel that the imposition of the settlement of a problem by one man, not democratically elected, without regard to the rights of the existing community and [with] even less regard to the rights of the travelling community will not solve the problem," the letter said.
It claimed the house was unsuitable for a large family with young children and it was "unfair on the family" to "impose them on the local community without consultation on either side". "The veil of secrecy surrounding your actions has caused great distress for the future," it added.
"Your actions have devalued our clients' property and have probably rendered some of our clients' property unsaleable. This is in a country which has a written Constitution which holds the right to property in high esteem."
Even more alarming concerns are raised in two documents appended to the letter, which refer to the fact that the house is on the "tourist corridor" for the south-east and is on a stretch of road with five B&Bs, rental summer houses and apartments, three garages and a small business park. "A real fear abides in the community," it is claimed.
The McDonaghs - a quietly spoken couple with charming children - are bewildered that anyone could perceive them to be a threat on so many fronts.
Although conscious that Travellers should not have to face vetting procedures not applied to others, Brigid says the family would be willing to meet the residents in advance in an attempt to allay their concerns. "If they had asked for a meeting with us, we would be happy to sit down and have a chat with them."
"We have nothing to hide. We have only our five kids who have never been in trouble in their lives and myself and my husband have never been inside a courtroom."
The caravan in which the family now live has just one sleeping area. It's barely big enough for the double bed which Breda shares with her older sisters, Kathleen (10) and Ann Marie (8). Michael, Brigid, Arthur and two-year-old Michael junior all sleep in the living quarter. The family has an outside shower and toilet.
The house which awaits them will have three bedrooms when an extension being built by the council is completed. A settled family in similar circumstances, Cllr O'Halloran claims, would have been placed at the top of the list and allocated a house within a year - compared to the five the McDonaghs have had to wait.
The family's four older children all attend the local primary school, St Mary's, and get on well with their classmates from the settled community. Michael senior, too, has a number of settled friends whom he meets for a drink once a week. Many in the settled community, the couple say, are "disgusted by what's going on".
Defending his decision to allocate the house to the McDonaghs, the county manager, Mr Connolly, told last week's meeting that the family had been living in Dungarvan for a long time, was well known, and would not cause a problem for anyone.
