Travellers in EU legal action threat

TRAVELLERS have threatened to take the Government to the European Court of Human Rights if their accommodation crisis is not solved.

Nearly 1,000 families are still on the roadside and only one-quarter of the promised housing and halting sites have been built by local authorities.

“We have tried the negotiation approach and it has not succeeded. The Government has failed miserably to provide accommodation for Travellers and if we don’t get redress in our own courts, the only option is the European Court of Human Rights,” said Pavee Point assistant director Martin Collins.

Local authorities are legally obliged to provide nearly 4,000 accommodation places by the end of 2004 under a five-year plan. But only 999 places have been provided in the first three years.

These include 422 standard local authority houses, 152 new halting site bays, 171 new group houses, and 15 purchased houses. Around

65 million was spent on Traveller accommodation in total, including the refurbishment of 177 halting site bays and 62 group houses.

Pavee Point believes the failure to meet the accommodation needs of Travellers is due to a lack of political will. “The vast majority of local politicians would not support a new halting site in their constituency because they see it as political suicide,” Mr Collins said.

Under the Housing (Miscellaneous) Act 2002, Travellers who park in unauthorised sites can be forcibly moved on by local authorities or gardaí. Mr Collins said these Travellers were in an invidious position.

“On one hand, the local authority has failed to provide them with accommodation places and on the other, they are being evicted from the sites. It is very hard to live under those circumstances,” he said.

Pavee Point, and other groups such as the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) want a new Central Traveller Accommodation Agency to solve the problem.

“If provision wasn’t been made by local authorities, the agency would be able to do it directly,” ITM spokesman David Joyce said.

“There are around 1,000 families on roadside sites. There are implications for Travellers’ health and education.

And the unauthorised settlements do cause conflict with the settled community.”

The Department of Environment said the number of Traveller families on the roadside had decreased from 1,093 in 2000 to 939 last year.

A spokesperson said the accommodation programme was being reviewed in consultation with Traveller groups.