This article is from page 20 of the 2011-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
CLARE County Council has spent € 20 million on Traveller accommodation in Clare over the past 10 years, according to a new report.
The council has invested in 10 group housing schemes and one temporary site in the county that were put in place over three Traveller accommodation programmes since 2000. According to a report prepared by Bernadette Kinsella, Director of Housing, Social and Cultural Services, the capital cost between 2001 and 2011 has been € 20 million.
The report provides a detailed breakdown of all costs associated with Traveller accommodation incurred by the council.
It shows that maintenance costs of Traveller accommodation are “high relative to other accommodation provided by the council”.
Ms Kinsella explains that the council incurred high security costs on the Beechpark group scheme in Ennis, which was the subject of criminal damage and remains the subject of threat and intimidation since 2010.
The report adds, “Efforts to let three refurbished houses in this scheme are ongoing but unsuccessful due to intimidation and threats within the Traveller community. While the council has reported all such incidents to the Gardaí, victim statements have not been lodged with the Gardaí.”
The report states that a total of five units of accommodation have been destroyed by arson attack in the last 22 months (Beechpark, Ashline, Ballymaley). “Tenancy sustainment over time is an ongoing challenge and the turnover of accommodation units is a further driver of maintenance expenditure,” the report adds.
According to the report, “several hundred thousand euro have been incurred in defending these complaints, in addition to an inestimable staffing cost”.
Ms Kinsella states that in 2009 the council instituted judicial review proceedings to prohibit the Equality Tribunal from proceeding with hearings.
She continues, “Approximately 1,300 complaints were referred to the Tribunal by Ms Heather Rosen on behalf of Travellers. As each complaint carries a potential award of damages of € 6,000, the council is exposed to significant potential cost. To date 73 decisions have been issued by the Tribunal and all these cases were dismissed.”
In terms of staff resources the report shows that “five full-time and one part-time staff are deployed to work exclusively on Traveller accommodation issues, the majority of the focus being on resolving and responding to matters in respect of Travellers who have been accommodated by the council”.
It continues, “The council’s capacity to continue to commit this dis-proportionate level of resources, in the context of our overall housing stock of 1, 500 units and of ever diminishing staff resources is seriously limited.”