Travellers joined forces with local residents yesterday to mount a blockade preventing Clare County Council from starting work on a new emergency halting site on the outskirts of Ennistymon, Co Clare.
The council's attempt to start work on the site followed the enaction of special powers allowing it to bypass the planning process in order to accommodate Travellers living on the roadside in north Clare.
The council has paid €410,000 to a farmer for the site. It plans to accommodate 39 children and 17 adults on it.
However at 8 a.m. yesterday about 30 residents with tractors and vans prevented the council machinery moving on to the site.
A spokesman for the residents said local people are "totally opposed" to an emergency site at this location.
He said it was completely unsuitable because it was adjacent to a river and there were ESB power lines overhead.
"There has been no prior consultation with residents and we have been given no timeframe on how long the emergency site would be here," the spokesman said.
There is also a question mark over the legislation allowing the council to enact these emergency powers.
"We get on well with the Travellers. We know them and give them clothes and toys. The Travellers should be housed and we would be prepared to accommodate a well-managed development of four to six houses, but what the council is proposing is out of the question and we will not accept it under any circumstances.
After 1 p.m. yesterday, the residents were joined by a small number of Travellers in support of their stance in the continuing stand-off.
Mr John Mongans, a Traveller and father of five, said they backed the residents 100 per cent in not wanting the site. "We are not going to move into this site. It is too big and unsuitable for us."
