Reaction as Dublin County Council reject a scheme to provide serviced halting sites for Travellers.
Dublin County Councillors reject plans for a network of 13 serviced sites for Travellers in the Dublin area. The halting sites would have catered for ten families with a resident caretaker and central community centres throughout the north and south county. Labour councillor Frank Buckley is disgusted the scheme was rejected by 16 votes to 11.
People really folded in the face of pressure groups.
Chrissy Ward, a member of the Traveller Rights Committee, is emotive about the decision to not to implement the comprehensive plan for halting sites.
It's cruel, it’s horrible, it’s the worst I ever heard tell of, to their own Irish people to do the like of that.
Chrissy Ward and her husband have eleven children and three grandchildren. They live in a muddy field off the Malahide Road in Darndale. They have no access to electricity, running water or toilet facilities.
It is the children who suffer the most from the conditions in the camp. They are constantly ill with diarrhoea, chest infections and gastroenteritis. They often need antibiotics.
God knows if people in television seen that in Africa, they’d cry out, they’d be sending donations all over the world.
Chrissy Ward stresses that Travellers are not looking for handouts,
We’re only asking for our civil rights, for our human rights.
Travellers often reside in dirty conditions, but living in a field without amenities does not provide an opportunity for cleanliness.
We can be clean when we want to be clean, but we’re not getting the chance.
Chrissy Ward explains that all Travellers want is a small place to live in and for their children to get an education.
We don't want to be shoved like dogs into forty or fifty sites.
To date, Dublin County Council has approved the setting up of five halting sites. These are in Balbriggan, Ballycoolin, Kishogue, Parslickstown and Donabate. The development of bungalows at Ballyogan is currently underway.
An RTÉ report broadcast on 31 January 1984. The reporter is Reg Cullen.
