Traveller accommodation: Need to foster dialogue

ON the face of it, the action by residents of a south Dublin housing estate in blocking access to a plot of land earmarked as temporary accommodation site for survivors of last weekend’s halting site fire seems heartless and uncaring.

That, at least, has been the reaction of both Environment Minister Alan Kelly and Martin Collins, co-director of Pavee Point, the support organisation for Travellers.

There is little doubt that the blockade added to the trauma and distress of those who lost friends and loved ones in the horrific fire, which claimed the lives of 10 Irish citizens.