Council faces minefield to shut Traveller camps

Galway County Council has admitted that it is a very difficult process to remove illegal Traveller encampments from rural areas after they move in.

Senior officials said that it takes a complex legal procedure to move Traveller families on from areas where they are not supposed to set up an encampment.

There matter was raised at a recent meeting of Ballinasloe Municipal Council when it was stated that there were Traveller caravans illegally parked in Poolboy and in Ballyforan.

But Director of Housing, Liam Gavican, explained that the legal process involved in moving on families was complex. He said that it was very difficult to establish the identities of those parked there.

He said that even when Galway County Council were successful in moving on Traveller families after a lengthy process, they invariably moved back again and the whole procedure started over again.

“There are a lot of times we are going around in circles about this matter. It is certainly not straightforward and there is a very complex legal procedure involved,” Mr. Gavican revealed.

He added: “There are times when we do move them on, they move back again. But even to get the proper identities of those involved can prove problematic”.

The matter was raised by Cllr. Timmy Broderick who said that there was still an illegal encampment in the Poolboy area of Ballinasloe.

He said that it had been there for some considerable time and he called on the County Council to take action to have the Traveller families removed.

Cllr. Broderick asked if the County Council had a policy to remove illegal encampments while he accepted that a lot of resources had been put into this problem.

Cllr. Michael Connolly raised the problem of Traveller caravans being parked at Derryfadda and Ballyforan and wondered if those involved were offered a house, would it resolve the problem.

The Fianna Fail councillor said that he was aware that some of those in illegal encampments wanted to be house but there were others who wished to be transient.

In response, Mr. Gavican said that some families in illegal encampments had been offered housing but this was refused.

“We are trying our best to deal with this situation but it is anything but easy. But it is something that we will continue to pursue,” the Director of Services added.