A Traveller family with eight children, living by the side of the road in Co Donegal, has received its 27th eviction notice in 13 years. They have been unable to get on any local authority housing list during this time, writes Kitty Holland.
Since 1992 Owen (36) and Ellen (33) McDonagh have been moved on from sites in counties Wexford, Kilkenny, Mayo, Galway, Waterford, Clare and Dublin. A Traveller family must be living at least 18 months in a local authority area to be regarded as "indigenous" and therefore eligible for social housing.
"The councils won't let us stay anywhere for the time we need to get on a housing waiting list," said Mr McDonagh at the weekend. "We want to be housed. My children need a roof over their heads, but we keep getting run out of places."
The family - whose children are aged two to 16 years - live between two caravans. They have been by the side of the road at Lisnennan Business Park in Letterkenny for 10 weeks but last week received notice to quit. They had arrived in Donegal, from Dublin - where they had been moved on by Fingal County Council - in March 2004. They have been moved on from sites around Letterkenny since last year.
Two of the children are ill. The eldest, Terence, has haemophilia while the youngest, Michael, has been on and off antibiotics for a chest infection over the past year, says Mr McDonagh. Like the approximately 600 other families living by the side of the road, they have no running water, no toilet facilities, no electricity and no rubbish collection.
"In the mornings it's an absolute nightmare," says Ellen McDonagh. "We are all squashed in like sardines and it's cold and draughty in these old vans. We are doing the best we can but there is no toilet or shower and we have to drag in the water from a local garage, and heat it in a basin to wash the children in the mornings. A few times a week I bring the children up the town to find a public toilet and give them a better wash."
Though the children are now attending school in Letterkenny their education has been erratic, something of particular concern to the couple. "It's very hard on them, all this moving about. Sure they can't settle. One day, please God, I would love to have a son who becomes a doctor or a solicitor, but they have to have a base to go to school from," Mr McDonagh said.
Patrick McLoughlin, senior executive officer with Donegal County Council, said the family were "illegally camped in the county" and confirmed they had been served with a notice to quit. He said the family did not come within the remit of the council's 2005-2008 Traveller Accommodation Plan as they arrived in the county too late.
The council was keen to meet its obligations to Donegal Travellers, he insisted. "We have housed over 60 Traveller families in the past five years and have plans to accommodate another 47 families. "This family has been offered facilities at a transient site in Lisfannon, where they could stay for up to three months but they decided not to take that offer up."
Paula Leonard, of the Donegal Traveller Support Group, said the Lisfannon site was over 20 miles from Letterkenny and moving the family there would disrupt the children's schooling. "The younger children are in a creche and they need also to be near the hospital for Terence. Moving to Lisfannon is just not a realistic option."
Mr McLoughlin agreed the family had a "plight" in that they were not on any local authority housing list. "The way to get on a list is to settle permanently in a county. I would suggest the way to do that is to secure private rented accommodation and we would be comfortable with assisting them with that."
However Mr McDonagh said he had tried to secure private rented accommodation over the past few months. "I must have viewed 50 houses but the reaction is very negative. It's pure discrimination in my opinion, but I have no way to prove it."
Clare Davey, accommodation officer with the Irish Traveller Movement, said similar cases were coming to her attention since the anti-trespass legislation was introduced in 2002.
"Noel Ahern [ the Minister of State with responsibility for Housing] endorsed the recommendation included in the review of the anti-trespass legislation that was chaired by [ former TD] Chris Flood, earlier in the year, that no Traveller family should lose their place on a housing list because of the Act." She said the McDonaghs' case, of not being able to get on a housing list because of the legislation, arguably came within that recommendation.
She said it was a "prime example" of the anti-trespass legislation being used "inappropriately up and down the country". Introduced to deal with the kind of large scale encampments seen at Knock and the river Dodder in Dublin in 2001, the legislation was instead being used against individual families, said Ms Davey.