Unauthorised occupants cause contractors to leave halting site

The unauthorised occupation of two halting sites in County Galway has delayed drawdown of thousands of euro of Government funding to carry out necessary health and safety works on the Traveller-specific accommodation.

Galway County Council has confirmed it had to suspend upgrade work on a temporary halting site in Portumna, where the contractor has withdrawn “until it is safe” to return and the unauthorised occupiers have moved on.

The Council also said it cannot appoint a contractor for upgrade works at a halting site in Ballinasloe, until unauthorised occupiers leave the site.

The local authority was responding to new figures obtained by Galway East TD Fianna Fáil Anne Rabbitte for the Connacht Tribune, which reveal that the Council is drawing down just a fraction of its full allocation of Government funding to spend on its Traveller Accommodation Programme (TAP).

In 2017, the Council was allocated €625,000 and none of it was drawn down. There was some €1.08m in State funding allocated to County Galway TAP in 2018, and just €267,000 was drawn down, which equates to 25%. So far this year, just €72,000 – or 5% – has been drawn down out of an allocation of €1.4m.

Despite the low percentage of the allocation being spent, versus the amount allocated, the Council insisted it was committed to further investment in homes for Travellers.

Michael Owens, Director of Housing, explained to the Connacht Tribune that the allocation of funding for Traveller accommodation is project specific.

“Unfortunately, despite the best efforts and commitment of the Council, it was not possible to avail of the full allocation of funding for a small number of Traveller-specific projects during the period 2017-2018,” he said.

There were three main Traveller accommodation projects for which the County Council sought funding for in 2017, 2018 and this year that have encountered difficulties and delayed the drawdown of funding, including in Craughwell, Ballinasloe, and Portumna.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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