Extra gardaí drafted for festive influx of Travellers

EXTRA gardaí have been drafted and a temporary health clinic installed to deal with a Christmas influx of Travellers to a west Limerick town.

Rathkeale is bracing itself for the annual population explosion when 600 Travellers join its 1,500 residents for the festive season.

To alleviate the strain on local services, the Mid-Western Health Board has opened a temporary health clinic and schools are catering for extra pupils. Additional gardaí have been drafted from west Limerick.

A garda spokesman said: “We will double up on our numbers and instead of two being on duty for a shift there will be four and sometimes more gardaí on the streets of the town at any one time.”

Most of the complaints made by the settled population in relation to the Travellers arose from the illegal parking of caravans and claims the Christmas visitors were speeding through the streets of the town.

Local county councillor John Griffin said the town would need a lot of community-type policing over the coming weeks.

“Large numbers of young people congregate on the streets and this is a huge irritant. Caravans can be parked on the side of the street with electric cables trailing along footpaths for connections to houses. The best way to deal with this is with a good dollop of community-type policing,” he said.

Mr Griffin made controversial claims in relation to disruption of Church services by the Travellers.

“The girls often come to Mass wearing skimpy dresses and many people are not happy with the display of flesh down the main aisle of the church,” he said.

Mr Griffin also accused the newcomers of blocking roadways with their four-wheel drive vehicles, particularly when they pulled up for a chat. “Rathkeale over the next few weeks will require instant solutions to immediate problems,” he said.

Pat Ambrose, principal of St Joseph’s Boys school, said the transient Traveller children who came to Rathkeale over Christmas were dispersed through classes, according to their age.

Three years ago, local parents staged a one-day boycott of the school when the Department of Education closed the special single class set up to cater for all transient Traveller children. Parents claimed the dispersal of Traveller children among the mainstream school population would cause disruption.

Mr Ambrose said yesterday: “The new system is working fine now.”

Most of the Travellers who return to Rathkeale at this time of year travel from Britain and mainland Europe. Many work laying tarmacadam on the German autobahn system.

The Revenue Commissioners are putting the wealth of many of Rathkeale’s Travellers under increased scrutiny. One local source told the Irish Examiner some Travellers no longer returned at Christmas for fear of the taxman catching up with them.