Council ordered to pay Traveller €2,000 over access to halting site

A TRAVELLER forced to sell his camper van because the county council refused him a key to the barrier at the halting site where he lived has been awarded €2,000 in compensation.

The Equality Tribunal found Michael McCann’s movements “would not be restricted in a similar manner” if he lived in standard local authority housing.

It ordered Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council to compensate Mr McCann, who, along with his extended family, had lived in the area for more than 15 years.

Mr McCann requested the key after buying a camper van which, due to its height, could not pass the access barrier. He agreed with the council that the families had wanted a barrier at the entrance, but he said they had “naturally presumed that they would get a key to it”.

The council informed Mr McCann that if he needed to get his van out of the site he would have to give 24 hours’ notice. He would have to give another 24 hours’ notice to ensure that he would get back in.

“As a result, the camper van was no longer a realistic means of transportation and Mr McCann was left with no other alternative than to sell his van,” said the equality officer.

Mr McCann argued the situation would not have occurred if he chose to live in standard local authority housing where he could park in a driveway.

The council named a few pilot programmes where Travellers had been issued with keys to barriers. During one of these pilots a caretaker residing on a halting site had asked the council to take the key back as he had been subjected to enormous pressure to open the barrier to members of his own community.

The reason why no Traveller is given a key was explained as a way of protecting the sites and the residents living in them.

The equality tribunal said the fact that Mr McCann was able to show photographic evidence that the barrier could be left opened for non-Travellers — ( a visiting circus )— “creates an inference of discrimination”.

Equality officer Tara Coogan said it was “clear from the evidence presented to me that Mr McCann has not been given a key because he is a Traveller living in a residential halting site”.

The council was instructed to pay Mr McCann €2,000 and the equality officer also recommended it carry out an “urgent review to examine whether there is still a continued need for a site entrance barrier as recommended in Guidelines — Residential Caravan Parks for Travellers”.