Whatever happens in relation to the relocation of the grieving Carrickmines Traveller families, residents in nearby Rockville Drive say their lives will not be the same again.
They woke up last Tuesday morning to a hand-delivered letter from the council informing them that a patch of land at the bottom of their road was being allocated for a temporary halting site.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council proposes using the site to rehouse those left homeless in the fire tragedy, which claimed the lives of 10 members of the extended Connors family just over a week ago.
Some residents parked their cars across the entrance to the proposed halting site. The impromptu move led to a wave of outrage and a bout of national soul-searching.
How could anyone deny a grieving family a place to stay temporarily while the council found a more permanent place for them to live?
The residents have been waiting for passions to cool to explain their position.
They have been publicly vilified, yet it seems that privately many support their stance: an Irish Times online poll found 78 per cent support for them.
Their opposition to the council’s move is not motivated by anti-Traveller prejudice, they insist, but by a belief that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is making a decision in haste which might have long-term consequences.
“I’m not anti-Traveller,” says resident Hugh O’Sullivan. “Many of us were emotionally touched by the fire and left flowers at the scene. We were in the process of commencing a fundraiser on the Sunday in response to the tragedy. The events have railroaded all of those plans.”
The way Mr O’Sullivan and most of the residents see it, the council acted in haste and selected the Rockville Drive site because it is council-owned, zoned for social housing and, most importantly, is within 10 minutes’ walking distance of the now gutted halting site where the fire took place.
“We’re not confident that they properly considered the sites available to them,” he says. “Since then the media focus has been so intense they have not been in a position to look at the options and consider what is available.
“This is, to all intents and purposes, a housing estate. The decision by the council to locate a halting site in the midst of a housing estate is an unprecedented decision nationwide.”
But is this not an unprecedented situation? “Exactly, all the more reason to make the decision in the cool light of day.”
Temporary site
The council has told the residents that the Rockville Drive location will be a temporary halting site for six months. Residents counter that the same was said of the Carrickmines location, approximately 500 metres away, where the fire occurred, and it was still in operation seven years later.
At present residents are not inclined to believe the reassurances of the council, though talks are continuing.
Mr O’Sullivan maintains that, even if the council were intent on moving the family on after six months, they might not want to move or objections would surface elsewhere.
“A number of things could happen that are outside their control. We will have national attention on an attempt by the council to forcibly remove a family that is grieving still. The council will have a repeat of this event in six months’ time,” he said.
Another resident, Brian Farrelly, said they did not object to Travellers living locally, but specifically to them living on the site selected.
“The process for establishing a halting site locally is contained within the local area plan. We contributed to that process and supported the proposed location of a halting site on the Glenamuck Road (a different site from the one now being considered). We have no issue in working through a proper process for the future.”
The road is relatively narrow. Cars are parked half on the pavement. Locals say that if Rockville Drive was a new estate, it would be declared illegal because there is not enough space for emergency vehicles such as fire engines or ambulances to pass safely.
“I find it hard to see on a balanced criteria basis how this site makes a lot of sense,” Mr Farrelly says. “The only sense it would appear to make is that it is in the area.”
Potential alternative
Locals have identified a site next to Stepaside Golf Course as a potential alternative and also a further two within the existing halting site at
Ballyogan Grove
.
The residents believe they are in a no-win situation. Even if they succeed, they will be accused of simply being anti-Traveller.
“That would be people’s opinions. It is understandable that people looking in from the distance have a perspective that is not necessarily accurate as to the facts in the situation,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“That may well be a reality, but it is one that we will live with. All of those taking a view on our moral character or the nature of our hearts, I don’t see them holding up their hands to say, ‘look, we’ll make ourselves available’.”
