A group of Travellers who were evicted from a public car park in Arklow, Co Wicklow, yesterday had been paying for their accommodation over a three week period by putting money in parking meters.
The Travellers, who had previously been evicted from the south beach area in Arklow, were moved on by a group of about eight council workers and eight gardaí before 9am yesterday morning. Arklow town clerk Des Nichols confirmed the Travellers had paid €3 per day for each car parking space they used, noting that some of the motorhomes had utilised two spaces.
He also said the Travellers had left the car park in a reasonable condition with the council accepting their final bags of waste before the group agreed to move out. However, relations between the council and the Travellers appeared less than warm with Mr Nichols complaining that a lock had been broken on the south beach car park sometime before the Travellers moved in. He also said the town car park had not been intended for temporary accommodation and added that the council had received a number of complaints about the matter.
"They told us three weeks ago they would only be in the car park for a few days," he added. With the number of vehicles rising to 10 at one stage - the council gave notice at the weekend that it would take action on Monday if the vehicles were not moved. Initially there were robust exchanges and one camper caravan was towed away and impounded but it was subsequently handed back to its owner following negotiations.
Gardaí escorted the Travellers to the N11. Local councillor Pat Fitzgerald said the car park was "not a holiday camp but is for the convenience of people doing their shopping in the town".