Una Mullally: NIMBYism is the national sport of south Dublin

The tragedy at Carrickmines which saw ten people die in a fire at a Traveller halting site is almost too much to bear. In the aftermath, the sinking feeling was compounded by residents in the area blockading attempts to provide emergency accommodation for Travellers now without homes.

There is a profound viciousness that lurks beneath the surface in Ireland when it comes to our fellow man and woman and child whom we deem to be other or lesser than. The engine of Irish society runs on hypocrisy. Isn't it well for us that we can extend tolerance by degrees to other minorities whom we deem fit members of society, yet allow Travellers to occupy a fenced-off place in our national psyche, immune from the progress and tolerance we give to others.

Local councils rarely do themselves any favours in these situations, and there does appear to be inadequate consultation on their part, but it's the cloud of discrimination against Travellers that hovers over this sad affair. "They don't live the same as we do," a resident told Carl O'Brien writing in The Irish Times last week, "It's not a slant on them. It's just a fact."

Indeed, saying someone doesn’t live how you do is not a slant. But using that difference as a basis to stop “them” living in any decent way at all, very much is. The casual and acute racism perpetrated against Travellers is widespread. The issues between Travellers and “everyone else” have never been properly addressed. Let’s face it, there’s no votes in it.

If south Dublin was a sovereign state, NIMBYism would be the national sport. Actual plans for halting sites, as opposed to temporary ones, languish in planning limbo across south Dublin. What councillor wants to deal with the endless objection from residents who are oh-so-happy for Travellers to be accommodated, just somewhere else? And where is that somewhere else? We don’t get to choose our neighbours – although I’m sure some of us would love to – because that’s not how providing decent accommodation and facilities for everyone living in our society no matter how marginalised they are works. You’ll hear the very same objections about accommodation for asylum seekers, homeless centres and methadone clinics.

During the 2014 local elections, fear- mongering over the development of land to accommodate Travellers in parts of south Dublin reared its ugly head. Josepha Madigan of Fine Gael distributed a local election leaflet in 2014 campaigning against traveller accommodation. Raging against the proposed site at Mount Anville (heaven forbid!) she wrote in her leaflet: "I was surprised to see one sitting Labour councillor quoted in the media as saying 'not everything is about the money'. In an age [of] budgetary cuts and severe pressure on services, I feel such comments are reflective of an attitude best consigned to the past." Are we to accept that everything is about the money, and any other perspective should be "consigned to the past"?

Conflict

One of the main reasons for conflict is a profound lack of communication between all parties involved when halting sites, temporary or otherwise, come into being. The lack of a strategy and a process that involves all stakeholders when it comes to accommodating Travellers in any part of the country causes division and conflict, much of it born out of ignorance. Travellers want to live somewhere, and the residents don’t want them there because they are Travellers. There are a lot of fears and concerns that need to be unpacked to resolve that.

“But they do this, that and the other,” the person who doesn’t want a halting site in their neighbourhood will say. Maybe “they” do. But so do plenty of other people. As far as I know, most people in this country engaged in violence, anti-social behaviour, crime, illegal dumping, dubious child-rearing practices, drug-dealing, joyriding, drunkenness, assaults and robberies aren’t Travellers. Perhaps, if there is a perception that crime and dubious social behaviours are disproportionate within the Travelling community, we should ask why that is, and see what can be done, if that is indeed the case and not just the perception.

Innocent people

Some 15 adults and children were left homeless after that fire. Ten people died. There are innocent people grieving the loss of family members. And isn’t it funny that so many of those residents who blockaded are so brave that they did so anonymously? Well the people who died had names. They were

Tara Gilbert

(27), who was four months pregnant. They were Willie Lynch (25). Their children who died were Jodie (9), and Kelsey (4). Willie’s sister died too,

Sylvia Connors

(25), as did her husband, Thomas (27). Three of their children died, Jim (5), Christy (2), and Mary, who was just five months old. A baby. Willie and Sylvia’s brother, Jimmy Lynch (39), died too.

I’m sure some residents think they have legitimate concerns. I’m sure everyone just wants to live in peace. But the blockade did not occur in a vacuum, but in a society that discriminates against Travellers at every juncture. So imagine what it’s like to live in a country that presses pause on empathy so frequently, even when your children have died.