Council to create 16 sites for travellers in Co Dublin

Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council plans to create 16 permanent halting sites between Dalkey and Rathfarnham in south Co Dublin.

The council has also appointed an assistant county manager, Mr Liam Byrne, to work exclusively on its "Programme for the Accommodation of the Travelling Community". Mr Byrne's brief is to identify locations for the sites and liaise with the settled community on their establishment.

Nine sites in the programme were originally suggested in the mid-1980s by Dublin County Council, although some of these have been modified. An additional seven sites of five bays per site are also included in the programme to meet an anticipated need over the next five years.

The original nine sites are: Lower Dodder Road; Bird Avenue; Booterstown; Gort Mhuire, Ballinteer; St Francis Park, Nutgrove; Roebuck Road (relocated from UCD lands); Dun ardagh, Templehill, Blackrock; Pottery Road; and Marlay Park, Rathfarnham (relocated from College Road). Two of the sites, at St Francis Park and Templehill, involve the construction of 12 and six houses, respectively.

The seven additional sites are: Stillorgan Road, between the old and new Bray Road near the junction of The Rise, Mount Merrion; Stepaside adjacent to the county council golf course; Dalkey quarry with an entrance at Ardbrugh Road; Kilternan, south of the Post Office; Ballybrack village; Pucks Castle Lane; Lehaunstown Lane on the site of a former cottage.

The council notes that St Francis Park, Booterstown, Gort Mhuire, Marlay Park, Stillorgan Road, Stepaside and Dalkey can proceed immediately.

In the event of a legal challenge to any site the council says it can advance other sites to ensure that the overall programme will not be delayed.

The county council also notes that it expects to proceed with the remainder of sites "by agreement or compulsory purchase order" before the end of 1999.

However, while the programme is the council's most determined effort yet to deal with the issue of halting sites, some members are less than happy. The Dublin South Fine Gael TD, Ms Olivia Mitchell, says the geographical distribution of the sites is biased against the western end of the council's administrative area.

"If you look at it as spanning two Dail constituencies, Dun Laoghaire and Dublin South, you will see that most of the sites are in the Dublin South constituency. This is particularly true of the Rathfarnham area, where there will be sites at Nutgrove, Marlay Park and Gort Mhuire, as well as an emergency site at Grange Road."

Ms Mitchell also said South Dublin County Council was planning halting sites in its area, many of which would be "back to back" with those developed by Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown.

"Nobody is saying we shouldn't try to solve this issue once and for all, but it is only fair that the sites are shared out evenly, otherwise we will be back to the old NIMBY (not in my back yard) principle. The underlying rule has to be fairness," she added.