Bishop Walsh intercedes for homeless Travellers

The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, is attempting to resolve the plight of a homeless Traveller family.

The 11-member Mongan family left Miltown Malbay in Co Clare last week after residents in the Ballard estate prevented them from being accommodated in one of the vacant houses. They are now in the promenade car-park at Lahinch in a 16-ft caravan borrowed from a relative.

After making contact with local representatives, Dr Walsh held a private meeting with 150 residents in Miltown Malbay at the weekend where he heard strong opposition to the family occupying 32 Ballard Estate.

Bishop Walsh said yesterday he was moved to do something because of the plight of the Mongan family and wanted to see if there was a solution to the problem.

"I would like to see the family housed somewhere. The issue is a very complex one and I am not going to sit in judgment on anyone. As a society, all of us need to seriously look at the matter. There are no simple solutions to it.

"The people of the Ballard estate are no different to people from any other estates in the country and their fears have to be acknowledged as well.

"It is all very well for people on the outside to pass judgment on the people in the Ballard estate, but I am not going to do that."

Bishop Walsh said one of the difficulties is that both Travellers and settled people do not talk to one another.

However, he did say that if a community could take on the special care of one family, it might be going in the right direction.

"The matter does raise questions what we might say in 20 years' time when we look back and see that children were placed in a situation like this."

Nevertheless, Bishop Walsh's initiative appears to have been met with continued resistance, with a local member of Clare County Council, Cllr Michael Hillery, saying yesterday: "The community's stance is still firm and I cannot see any circumstances which would see the Mongan family move into the house at the Ballard estate."

He said the residents of the estate have the backing of the wider community.

"The community is not against Traveller families being accommodated, but the Ballard estate is an old established estate and would not have been a suitable location for the Mongans."

Mr Martin Mongan said yesterday: "I heard that only two people spoke up for us at the meeting. We are sick of it at this stage."

He said that three to four people from Miltown Malbay had come to them in Lahinch to give them clothes and food.

The Ennis-based Community Development Project has launched an appeal to replace the family's belongings lost in a caravan fire last month and to buy the family a new caravan.