Traveller mother-of-12 being forced to vacate encampment

A MOTHER-OF-12 is dreading “a sad, lonely Christmas” after her Traveller family is being forced to vacate a roadside encampment.

A 48-hour warning from solicitors to Mary O’Donoghue is due to expire today.

She lives on a link road off a motorway near Ennis, Co Clare, with five other Traveller families.

“I don’t know what’s going to become of us,” she said.

The county council has advised it will take court proceedings to compel the family to move if the warning is ignored.

She said yesterday: “It will be a sad and lonely Christmas.”

Ten children currently live in the encampment, located off the M18, near the village of Barefield. The families settled there just weeks ago after being forced off another site in Barefield, following previous warnings from the local authority.

However, a letter on Tuesday last from the council’s solicitor, John Shaw, stated: “Our client continues to receive complaints from members of the public in relation to the continued obstruction of the footpath at your current location; the trespass of loose dogs in the vicinity; the inability of the public to use the footpath and the continued periodic accumulation of waste at the encampment, amongst other complaints.”

The letter continued: “As owners of the site in question, my clients require you to remove your temporary dwelling from this location within 48 hours from the receipt hereof.”

Mr Shaw’s letter indicated, if the warning was not heeded, “we are instructed to issue court proceedings for an injunction compelling you to remove the said property”.

Ms O’Donoghue said yesterday: “We have nowhere to go. We want to be left here for Christmas to allow us get a council home in the new year.”

She insisted there was no obstruction of the footpath where the caravans are and all the dogs are tied up.

The site, however, has no sanitary facilities. She said: “We look after this place as best we can.”

Ms O’Donoghue said she has not vacated any accommodation to live on the side of the road.

“I was born in a caravan 56 years ago. I have always been on the side of the road and my roots are in Ennis.”

The protracted saga concerning the O’Donoghues has been discussed in the county council chamber.

At a recent meeting, county manager Tom Coughlan said council staff were told by Travellers at the encampment that it would cost the local authority thousands of euro in legal costs to have them moved on.

But Ms O’Donoghue said: “We didn’t say to the council that it would cost thousands to move us on.”

The council has a Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee. Its chairman, Cllr Brian Meaney, said yesterday: “The council is entirely correct in taking the action seeking to move on the O’Donoghues.

“The encampment is illegal and a danger to themselves and to road users.”