Wednesday 20 January 2016

The Dundalk Debacle Continues

the ex holding site.

I was hoping not to have had to post on this subject again. Unfortunately because of the lack of common sense and total inability to have one milligram of humanity within  All of the operatives of Louth County Council, I am doing so.

Here is the latest news on this inhuman debacle.

Families who are being evicted from the illegal halting site at Woodland Park in Dunkalk say that neither of the short-term solutions proposed by Louth County Council last night are workable.

A number of families met with an auctioneer appointed by the council this morning, however they say they were told no suitable accommodation was available. 
The Louth C.C. cunningly used this auctioneer to do their dirty work for them knowing fully well what the message was going to be;lets hope it was for more than just thirty pieces silver ?

The families have also raised concerns about proposals to relocate them to halting sites outside of Dundalk.

Their concerns include the distance from where their children are in school, isolation, the fact that families may be split up and that one of the halting sites will not be ready for a number of weeks.

Local solicitor Eleanor Kelly, who represents a number of the families, sent a letter to the council this afternoon highlighting her concerns and requesting further discussions.

Louth County Council said it is continuing to work with residents and representatives to meet their accommodation needs.

Meanwhile, the last of the mobile homes at the site are being voluntarily removed by residents.

The final mobile home will be removed tomorrow morning at 8am, while the second last home is being removed this afternoon. 

Louth County Council is accommodating five families in B&Bs until Friday.
The question is what happens next L.C.C. for these people are your responsibility ?

The buck stops here....
The manager of Louth Co Council 
Philomena Poole


To obtain a better understanding of the situation please read http://leargas.blogspot.ie

12 comments:

  1. Oh Mel, what a dreadful situation. It is hard to imagine how little compassion there is in the 'authorities' these days.

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    1. Yes, unfortunately you are correct Val and we are ruled by superficial plastic dumb downed morons.

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    2. It's hard to have an intelligent view from this far away and without knowing the full story, but to be honest I feel very ambivalent about the whole travellers situation. On the one hand, they want the right to move around as they wish, on the other hand they want things that are dependent on being settled somewhere - like continuity of schooling and united families. Are the council looking for a constructive way forward or are they just prejudiced and bloody-minded? It depends how you look at it. It's a very tangled issue and these bitter disputes crop up time and time again. Sorry, hope you don't mind me putting a spanner in the works! Feel free to put me in my place....

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    3. Thank you for your comment and interest Nick,which I will do my best to answer.
      If the council were looking for a constructive way forward, then they ought to have made the necessary arrangements in the first place before turfing these people off. The upshot of it is that there is no place for them to move to.
      In regards to freedom of movement, in the past each family had their traditional camps and bases; then came the idea of providing them with fixed homes and a lot of Travellers do have a permanent base to return to from their excursions. Some counties are better than others at providing the right sort of accommodation, Louth is not one of them.
      On the Dundalk scene the decision to take this action was made without bringing it to the politicians, the order was made by the administrators therefore the responsibility for this action is the county managers'.

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  2. It seems to me that even if the council had valid health and safety concerns (and they might well have after the Carrickmines fire), they should either have made changes to the site that would meet those concerns, or closed the site but only AFTER all the residents had been given satisfactory alternative housing. So I guess right now I side with the residents.

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  3. People like this are often hounded from pillar to post and usually by complacent people who themselves live in comfortable, warm homes and who would make a huge outcray if anyone interfered with their way of life.

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    1. Yes Pat you are unfortunately correct and at times like this I totally despair.....

      Thank you for your considerate reply.

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  4. Thanks Mel, I've just read Gerry Adams' very balanced blog post (that you directed me to) on the subject, and there is no doubt in my mind that the council concerned are responsible for a potential humanitarian crisis. As I said in my earlier comment, it seems hard to imagine that these people could have so little compassion and to act so arbitrarily without making any alternative arrangements for the Travellers.

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    1. Thank you for your understanding and clarity Val, which is greatly appreciated.

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  5. "The Minister also says that he is satisfied that the Council is committed to working with the families and their representatives. I remain to be convinced of this." To quote from the link.
    It would seem that simple answers like actually making safe the holding site by the council is not on the agenda. The Travellers are forced out and homeless, on the whim of people in safe and comfortable homes. Such things happen here in England as well, years ago you would see the great rocks blocking entrances to laybys to stop Travellers. The Dale Farm in Essex was the scene of a fight back, I wonder what has happened to all those people. Of course it must not be forgotten that it is also the 'settled' people who bring complaints against the Travellers.

    .....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Farm

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    1. Thank you for your contribution to the subject Thelma.
      The Minister is doing a cover up job on Louth C.C. because we received information yesterday that Louth did not apply for the special funding from central government for Traveller Accommodation; which to my mind is nothing other than blatant neglect.
      Yes, you are correct it is the non traveller community that make the often unwarranted complaints. For instance none of them have written on this blog !

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