Travellers who have been on the move around Galway City over the past number of months have cost the council in excess of €100,000 in legal and security fees – a spokesperson for Galway City Council has confirmed.
This figure looks set to rise as the travellers who were, until recently, situated in Ballyloughane moved to an area of land on the edge of the Fearann Rí estate in Doughiska, adjacent to Merlin Park.
As of yesterday, a week since the first families arrived, seven caravans were parked on the site – described as a slip road into the Merlin Woods.
The spokesperson for the council said that the issue has been before the Circuit Court several times over the past few months.
“Going to the Circuit Court is never inexpensive,” he said. “We have been to the Circuit Court five times in recent months in relation to the issue of illegal encampment.”
Cllr Mike Crowe has called on the travellers to obey the terms of a High Court Injunction – granted to Galway City Council three weeks ago – banning them from setting up camp on any council owned or controlled property.
The Fianna Fáil councillor believed that travellers were only making an already precarious situation worse by breaching the terms of the order – as the council tries to earmark a suitable location for a halting site.
“Let’s be honest, no councillor or no neighbourhood will want a halting site next to them,” said Cllr Crowe. “The actions of these travellers will only make that harder.”
Cllr Crowe said that travellers need to work with the council to find an appropriate and long-term solution.
“The first thing that has to happen is that members of the travelling community cannot keep moving.
“None of these estates are equipped for a halting site; it raises the ire of residents and results in complaints to the councillor, to me in this case, and ends up back in the courts,” he said.
The only legal option left open to the council now is committal orders against those involved, which would result in prison sentences being handed down – an option which Cllr Crowe claimed the “vast majority of people wouldn’t want to see.”
On Wednesday, an audit was carried out by the council and when a report is complete, a decision will be taken on the next course of action.
“We are looking at the situation and we will continue to pursue it,” said the spokesperson. “We wish we didn’t have to – we wish we didn’t have to expend finances from budgets in housing and parks on this.”
Cllr Crowe said that the residents of Fearann Rí have had a long battle on their hands to develop what was “one of the only areas of Galway left in a bad way following the economic collapse.”
“For that reason, we are very protective of it – to disregard all that hard work is totally unacceptable,” he said.
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