Council spends €150k on Traveller-related legal fees

CLARE county council has spent over €150,000 on legal fees for Traveller-related issues this year.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the council confirmed it spent €81,096 on senior counsel and €57,225 on junior counsel on Traveller-related legal cases this year.

An additional €12,223 was paid to the council’s own solicitors, Michael Houlihan Solicitors.

The total cost of dealing with Traveller issues was €821,665. The council spent €137,582 on security costs at Beechpark halting site. Maintenance costs amounted to €272,973.

The €821,665 also included management costs of €214,589, including €200,439 for staff.

Capital costs amounted to €181,677.

The council’s finance officer, Niall Barrett, said the council has gone €450,000 over-budget on Traveller issues this year.

The overspend coincides with the council cutting back on other services, and Mr Barrett conceded that “the reduction in both financial and staff resources has impacted on service delivery”.

He said the €450,000 overspend arises from “critical maintenance and security situations from damage done to Traveller sites and legal costs arising from recent court cases”.

He said this money will not be recoverable from the Department of the Environment.

Cllr Brian Meaney of the Clare Local Area Traveller Consultative Committee, said it was unsustainable that such a small percentage of the Clare population continues to cause such costs to be borne by the taxpayer.

“Even in favourable economic circumstances such a spend is obscene, Clare County Council will have to find a process of arbitration which deals with the issues that give rise to the situations where legal counsel has to be employed.

“The potential of using the Local Traveller Consultative Committee could be such an option if the Traveller community engaged with the committee properly.

“County Councils across the country are going to have to develop the transitory halting sites they are required to provide under the 1998 Housing (Traveller) accommodation act. This will involve a further spend on infrastructure but it will bring some order and off set the current high spend on legal fees,” Mr Meaney said.