Local authorities are "wasting resources" on legal proceedings against Travellers that "would be better spent on solving the Traveller accommodation crisis", the accommodation officer with the Irish Traveller Movement has said.
Mr David Joyce said the organisation had about three or four inquiries a week from Travellers around the country, who were threatened with legal proceedings by local authorities. The vast majority of these actions are for trespass - i.e. being parked on public land, typically by the side of the road.
In the year 2000 to 2001, legal steps were taken to evict over 400 Traveller families from public land, under Section 10 of the Housing Act, he said.
"The majority just move on when served with a solicitor's letter."
Evictions can also be served by local authorities under the terms of the Roads Act, while under the terms of the Housing Provision Act, trespass on public land is a criminal offence.
"The councils have to employ a solicitor to come out to sites where families have parked and hand the notices to them," commented Ms Ann Griffin of the Mayo Traveller Support Group.
Mr Joyce pointed out the Traveller movement would not have been contacted by all those facing legal action, adding that most Travellers would probably simply move on rather than consider fighting the action.
"We can't say how far the proceeding are going, what proportion are going to court or not. But the whole process is a waste of resources."
Though cases are pursued by local authorities' legal staff, preparing for them also consumes the energies of many authorities' Traveller accommodation units.
In Co Mayo, for example, the local council has just won a case against a group of Co Limerick Travellers who have been regular illegal campers at the car-park by the shrine in Knock.
Last week Castlebar Circuit Court awarded the council costs.
Albeit an important victory from the council's point of view, Mr Peter Hynes, of the council's housing unit, concedes it "took a lot of our time".
The council is currently pursuing more than 40 more cases against Travellers.
According to Mr Joyce, the media perception is that Travellers are initiating the majority of legal actions between themselves and local authorities.
"But the majority are initiated by local authorities," he said.
Some 1,200 Travellers are living, illegally, by the side of the road and risk being moved on.
