Councils could be sued by Travellers

LOCAL authorities could face an avalanche of legal actions for failing to provide sufficient halting sites for Travellers.

According to Travellers' rights organisations, only two councils Donegal and Westmeath have so far taken proper steps to implement a statutory programme to provide accommodation that meets the specific needs of Travellers who choose to roam.

Of the 2,200 units of accommodation recommended in the 1995 Government Task Force on Travellers only 251 extra units of halting site accommodation has been provided. Only 757 of 900 housing units recommended were built.

A refusal to accommodate the lifestyle of at least 1,200 nomadic Travellers could result in legal actions against other local authorities, according to Damien Peelo, former co-ordinator of the Tallaght Traveller Community Development Project.

Every local authority was mandated under the 1998 Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act to adopt a Traveller Accommodation Programme, which must include provision for transient sites, and to fully implement them by this year. "I'd say Traveller groups are lining themselves up to begin legal actions. The legal route seems to be an effective way of enforcing rights," said Mr Peelo.

That is the route already chosen by four families in Clare. They have launched a Constitutional challenge to the anti-tresspass provisions of the 2002 Housing Act, viewed with hostility not only by Travellers but also by the Human Rights Commission. The High Court is currently reviewing the act.

An estimated 1,200 Travellers are described as "transient," although this figure rises to at least 2,000 during the summer. The two transient sites where Travellers can go to, stay a few nights and move on are in Co Donegal. A third is in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

"As long as there are no official transient sites, nomadic Travellers are, effectively, being forced to break the law," said Mr Peelo. "And the anti-trespass legislation has made things a lot worse."

According to David Joyce, legal policy officer of the Irish Travellers Movement, all local authorities have adopted an accommodation programme as required by legislation, but many have been slow to implement it. "Most local authorities are compliant with the letter of the law but not with the spirit of the law," he said.

Mr Joyce, 34, a student of law at the King's Inns, will be the first Traveller to become a barrister when he graduates next year. He said those families that had been identified as needing accommodation and were still waiting for it could have good grounds to sustain a legal action. "The local authorities are required to take 'reasonable steps' to implement a proper accommodation programme. Very few have done so."

He said the Irish Traveller Movement would be supportive of any families seeking legal redress. The Department of the Environment is currently reviewing the Traveller accommodation programme and is expected to report in April.