Traveller families who have been staying on a site across the road from the Cherry Orchard Fever Hospital have been evicted by Dublin Corporation.
The owners of the site, Ballyfermot Textiles Limited had been issued with a court order by Dublin Corporation to evict a group of Travellers who have been living there.
At present there are approximately 30 caravans and 10 tents, but no running water or sanitation facilities. A hut structure, used as a school for the children living there, has also been erected on a section of the site.
A picket held by members of the Itinerants Action Group at the entrance to the site on Ring Road greeted Gardaí and Corporation workers who arrived to carry out the evictions early this morning.
While there was dialogue between the Itinerants Action Group and Gardaí, by the afternoon the caravans had been moved and the temporary school building dismantled. The Traveller families set up on another site on the Long Mile Road.
Joseph O’Donoghue, Acting Chairman of the Itinerant Action Group spoke to RTÉ News at the Travellers’ new site. While they did not want to be moved from Ballyfermot, he is adamant that they will stay where they are in their new location,
We intend to remain as long as possible.
Fellow Action Committee member Grattan Puxton says that school will continue as normal for the children. They have had an offer of a prefabricated building, but for now, his caravan will be used as a classroom for small groups at different times throughout the day,
There will be no interruption of the school programme, which we started.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 January 1964. The reporter is Mike Burns.
