Council forced to spend extra €450,000 on Traveller sites
Clare County Council’s finance officer, Niall Barrett, has confirmed critical maintenance and security situations arising from some damage done on Traveller accommodation sites and legal costs arising from recent court cases has resulted in expenditure exceeding budget.
Unlike previous expenditure on Traveller accommodation, Mr Barrett has stated the additional expenditure will not be recoverable from the Department of the Environment.
County manager, Tom Coughlan, admitted he was concerned with the over expenditure on Traveller accommodation sites year on year while the council was doing its utmost to stay within budget.
Following a “difficult” first six months in terms of staying within budget, Mr Coughlan told councillors at the monthly meeting he expected the final six months to remain “difficult” while the preparation of the 2012 budget estimates would be challenging.
He pledged to commission an overall report, for the October meeting, detailing the items of over expenditure on Traveller accommodation.
Cllr Joe Arkins expressed dissatisfaction the €450,000 was not recoverable from the department and noted it was not likely to be recovered from Travellers.
The difficulty collecting income from specific Traveller accommodation was raised by Cllr Johnny Flynn, who noted there seemed to be a problem collecting money from some local authority tenants.
Cllr James Breen requested the council to provide a breakdown of the number of court cases it had lost and won along with the cost of all the legal proceedings involving Travellers.
Clare County Council spent €565,000 on maintenance of Traveller sites in 2009 but it increased to €628,000 in 2010.
Additional expenditure on refurbishment resulting from vandalism at Beechpark, Ballymaley, Ennis and Ballymurtagh, Shannon amounting to €90,000.
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