Seasonal health clinic for Travellers

A SPECIAL health clinic has been opened in Rathkeale by the HSE to cater for the huge influx of Travellers who come from Britain and Europe to spend Christmas and the new year in the Limerick town.

The clinic, which will not open on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, is staffed by a GP and a triage nurse and is open from 10am to 8pm.

It is estimated that the arrival of Travellers at this time of year pushes the population from around 1,800 to almost 4,000. Most of the visitors stay in their own caravans which they park mainly in the Roches Road area of the town.

A special Christmas court sitting is also set to deal with public order and trafficoffences during the holiday period.

Meanwhile, Rathkeale is to receive a special one-off grant of €250,000 under the RAPID programme.

The funding will be spent on infrastructural projects such as playgrounds, works to improve disabled access to community facilities andeducational and environmental improvements.

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is providing the funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Deputy Niall Collins said: “This funding is aimed at targeting economic andsocial disadvantage as well as those people who have a disability or are educationally disadvantaged.

“Over the next two years we should see a range of small projects being built or developed in and around Rathkeale that will make a big difference to the local community.”

He said the inclusion of the town in RAPID will have a long-lasting positive impact on the area.