Roma roundabout camp ‘potentially disastrous’

THE makeshift Roma gypsy camp on a roundabout in Dublin just off the M50 is potentially disastrous from a road safety point of view, the AA warned yesterday.

The group of Roma families, including 16 children, have been living in tents amid shrubbery on a roundabout at Ballymun for about five weeks.

AA spokesman Conor Faughnan said there could be nowhere less suitable for a family than a roundabout in a busy intersection.

The AA has advised motorists to be aware of the situation and to slow down when approaching the roundabout at the Ballymun exit from the M50.

“We do not want to add a genuine tragedy to the unfortunate circumstances there at the moment,” said Mr Faughnan.

The site is being visited daily by members of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and gardaí.

A HSE spokesperson said they were doing everything possible to co-operate with the parents and to care for their children.

“We have provided practical help and the children have been medically scanned,” a spokesperson said yesterday.

However, it was pointed out, the parents were primarily responsible for their children.

“The HSE has no authority or resource to provide accommodation for entire families.”

The spokesperson said the health authority continued to encourage the parents to return home with their children.

The ISPCC’s director of services Áine Lynch said children living on a roundabout was a clear child protection issue. She also believed that the situation would not have gone undetected and unresolved for so long if there were Irish children living on a roundabout in the middle of the M50.

“I know the HSE is working very hard to resolve the problem but, because it is new phenomenon resulting from Romania’s accession to the EU, they are struggling to find a solution,” she said.

Because of the requirement for children aged between six and 16 to attend school, the National Educational Welfare Board has also become involved.

A spokesperson for the board, said their focus would be on resolving the welfare issues surrounding the families’ circumstances that needed to be considered before school attendance could be addressed.

The spokesperson said legal action was an action of last resort taken when parents had repeatedly refused to co-operate with the board to ensure their child received an education and would not be an appropriate response.

Calls to the Government to offer humane support to the 28 adults and 16 children camping on the roundabout have been made by Irish Travellers Group, Pave Point and the Roma Support Group. Because of welfare restrictions aimed at citizens from new EU states, Romanian citizens are not entitled to a range of social assistance payments or emergency accommodation.