A number of homeless Traveller families have moved back on to the front lawn of the Ennis residence of the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh - this time without the bishop's permission.
Five families moved back after being given 48 hours to vacate the grounds of Clare County Council's proposed new €33 million administrative headquarters after the council claimed that the Travellers were in breach of a High Court order. One of the families left the bishop's lawn for another site in Ennis yesterday afternoon.
The Travellers had moved from the bishop's lawn to the proposed council headquarters site - the former site of Our Lady's psychiatric hospital - on Thursday of last week after a five-week stay.
Dr Walsh asked them to move due to the potential health hazard caused by using a site without sanitary facilities. At the time, Dr Walsh said that both he and the Travellers were very sad that they were leaving his residence.
However, while the bishop was abroad on a pilgrimage to Rome this week, the five Traveller families moved back on to his front lawn. One of the travellers, Mr Michael Mongans, admitted yesterday that they did not have permission from Dr Walsh to move back on to his front lawn. Mr Mongans said: "What could we do? The bishop's is the only place where we are safe. Our caravans would have been impounded if we had remained at Our Lady's hospital and there is no place for us to go in Ennis, every place has boulders."
A Clare County Council spokesman said earlier this week that three of the families on the bishop's lawn were from the Ennistymon area and had consistently refused to engage in consultations with the council regarding the type of accommodation favoured by them there.
The spokesman also pointed out that one of the other families was currently the tenant of a bay in an official halting site in Cork city.
A spokesman for the bishop yesterday declined to comment but said the bishop would be returning from Rome over the weekend.
Mr Mongans said: "The bishop is returning later and we will do whatever he says. If he wants us to leave, there won't be any need to call the gardaí, we will go straightaway."
However, an independent member of Ennis Town Council, Mr Frankie Neylon, accused the Travellers of taking advantage of the bishop.
He said: "It was a very Christian thing to do by the bishop. His heart is in the right place, but to move on to his property while he is away is not the thing to do."