School closed because of concern over Traveller site

A primary school in Ennis has closed because of an unauthorised Traveller halting site less than 10 metres from the school building.

The board of management of the Ennis Educate Together school took the decision to close after a Mid-Western Health Board report outlined health and safety concerns following an inspection of the school grounds.

The report recommended that prosecutions be issued by Ennis UDC against the Travellers at the adjacent site to remove the public health nuisance. The Travellers are living without sanitation or refuse facilities.

The school principal, Mr Seβn ╙ Confhaola, said yesterday: "The board of management took the decision because we can't continue with the current situation.

"We have stopped using the school yard. There is excrement in front of the school, behind the school, we come in early to clean up the area while there are also loose dogs around and the situation here is an accident waiting to happen."

The seven Traveller families have been at the site since the summer. The Traveller accommodation crisis has been continuing in Ennis since 1997 when the town's only authorised halting site was shut down.

Mr ╙ Confhaola said the school would be closed until November 5th to allow action to be taken. He said the school was seeking legal advice. On Monday, parents are to march on the offices of Clare County Council.

Ms Deirdre O'Mahony, who has two children at the school, said: "It is a terribly distressing situation. It is not safe or healthy for the kids outdoors, so they have the alternative of staying indoors in rotting Portakabins. It is tainting the school experience of the children."

A spokeswoman for Clare County Council, which is responsible for the housing of Travellers, said there was no immediate solution as the land on which the caravans were located was leased by the council to two separate bodies, so the local authority was unable to take legal proceedings to remove the Travellers.

She said that work had started on an emergency halting site near the school which the council hoped would be ready by Christmas, adding that work on a permanent site for some of the families would begin soon.

One of the Travellers at the centre of the dispute, Mr James Galbraith, said yesterday: "At the end of the day, we have nowhere to go until the halting sites are in place. Until then, we should have toilets and skips but we have not been given them."