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
A SMALL number of Traveller families are causing a lot of concern and costing Clare County Council a lot of money, a meeting has heard.
Those were the comments made by County Manager Tom Coughlan at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council. Mr Coughlan was speaking after a new report revealed the high cost incurred by the council in providing Traveller accommodation over the past 10 years.
Mr Coughlan told the meeting that a small percentage of families in Clare were behind many of the problems associated with accommodation including, vandalism and intimidation of council staff. Mr Coughlan said Clare County Council had led the field when it came to providing Traveller accommodation.
He said that the last specific piece of Traveller legislation had been introduced 23 years ago. He suggested that it was now time to examine legislation in the area of Traveller accommodation, saying further discussion and debate on the matter would be helpful to local authorities.
Commenting on figures that show that 1,300 complaints have been referred to the Equality Tribunal, Mr Coughlan said that if all cases are heard individually “it will take up a lot of council time and resources”.
Mr Coughlan paid tribute to staff working in the council’s housing section, saying that the job can be “extremely difficult and demoralising”. “There is a limit to the amount of money and staff the council can put into this,” he added. At the meeting, councillors expressed concern at the rising costs of the programme. Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) pro- posed that the council stop spending money on Traveller accommodation until such time as new legislation is introduced. “It’s high time they were taught a lesson,” he added. Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that while Travellers have rights and entitlements, they also have duties and responsibilities. “But it seems to me that with elements of the Traveller community, it’s all a one way street.” Commenting on the council’s report, which shows that the percentage of rent collected for Traveller accommodation is low, Cllr Arkins said rent should be deducted at source from Social Welfare payments. “There are only so many times you can get two fingers in the face,” he added. Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that the figures contained in the report were very “disheartening” given the council’s ongoing commitment to providing Traveller accommodation. Cllr James Breen (Ind) said the gardaí should be invited to speak on incidents of vandalism and arson at Traveller accommodation at the next council meeting.