Evicted members of the travelling community to speak in Oireachtas today

Members of the travelling community evicted from a halting site in Dundalk will be given a chance to speak in the Oireachtas today.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has invited the former residents of Woodland Park into Leinster House, amid claims that many of them are camped out in a carpark in the town.

The controversy arose after Louth County Council ordered 23 families to leave the unofficial halting site over health and safety fears.

However the travellers have said they have been left homeless as the accommodation they have been offered is unsuitable.

Gerry Adams has said the County Council would have dealt with members of the settled community differently: “I couldn’t see us being evicted, you know someone would come along and talk to us and say this isn’t very solitary, or this isn’t very hygienic, but I couldn’t see the army response unit being sent in.

“So it was an unfortunate decision.”