AN EXTENDED Traveller family has lost their High Court claim that Dublin City Council is required to provide group housing accommodation for them at a site at St Dominick’s Park in Belcamp, Coolock.
Martin Gavin had claimed his extended family had lived for some 25 years at St Dominick’s Park until they were allegedly forced out of there in February 2005 following attacks upon them by another Traveller family, the McDonoughs.
The family moved to a derelict site in Belfast but returned to Dublin in November 2005. They unlawfully occupied an unauthorised site at Lusk owned by Fingal Co Council until a High Court order of December 2007 required them to leave.
They then moved to an unauthorised site owned by Dublin City Council which has ongoing injunction proceedings against them.
In his judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Michael Peart found there was insufficient evidence that anything amounting to a promise or undertaking was given to the family that they would be provided with group housing accommodation at St Dominick’s Park.
He said the minutes of discussions in 2004 between the council and Liam O’Brien, chairman of the Belcamp Estate Steering Committee (BESC), about a group housing development at St Dominick’s Park seemed to be exploratory in nature.
Mr O’Brien had said residents were concerned and felt it would be best for the neighbourhood if the Travellers were provided with “proper accommodation”.
The council and the Travellers were happy to deal with the BESC as it was trying to improve the quality of their accommodation and the BESC considered the Gavin family to be residents of the Belcamp area as they had been there for such a long period.
Mr O’Brien had said the council had wanted to build houses for other families as well as the Gavins at St Dominick’s Park and the Gavins had agreed to that and that was when “the trouble started” which ultimately led to the Gavins fleeing to Belfast. Mr O’Brien said the council’s position now about providing housing for the Gavins was contradictory to its 2004 commitment. Mr Justice Peart said the 2005-2008 Traveller accommodation programme had not been adopted by the council at the time of the 2004 meeting.