GARDAÍ HAVE launched a major investigation after a house bought by a local council to house a Traveller family was destroyed by fire early yesterday morning.
The fire at the house, which has been at the centre of a bitter row in Ballina, Co Tipperary, is being treated as suspicious.
The four-bedroomed property has been at the centre of controversy in the picturesque lakeside village, after North Tipperary County Council purchased it to house the O’Reilly family.
The fire is believed to have broken out at the property at about 1.30am, with units of North Tipperary and Clare services called upon to fight it.
Gardaí also attended the scene, and after the fire was brought under control at about 3am the entire area was cordoned off for forensic examination.
Gardaí in Killaloe have confirmed the incident is being treated as suspicious as investigations into the cause continue.
The O’Reilly family had been due to occupy the house in coming weeks following a lengthy legal battle between a number of local residents and the council. The family is currently living in caravans in the village.
Only last month, the High Court ruled that the council should be allowed to house the O’Reilly family in the property, which, when purchased by the council, cost about €465,000.
Some of the protesters who picketed the house last September and October recently lost High Court judicial review proceedings taken against the county council arising from the decision to house the family.
A small number of the protesters have appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, where proceedings have been adjourned until July 10th.
Solicitor for the O’Reilly family, Tony O’Malley, said his clients were extremely saddened and upset by what he described as a “sinister development”.
“I spoke with members of the O’Reilly family during the course of the night and they are most upset and saddened by this latest and most sinister development. They have patiently awaited the outcome of judicial proceedings and have shown remarkable restraint in the face of considerable provocation, intimidation and frustration.
“Even when Mr O’Reilly attended the scene of the fire to witness what was happening tonight, he claimed to have been received with triumphalist jeering by a section of the onlookers that were present,” Mr O’Malley said.
Martin Collins of Pavee Point Travellers Centre said the fire was “very suspicious”, but said the organisation would await the result of the Garda investigation before drawing conclusions.
Mr Collins, who has been following the case for the past year and has been in contact with the O’Reilly family, said that in recent months the door locks on the house had been glued so that it could not be accessed, demonstrating that someone was “prepared to go to any lengths to obstruct the family from being allocated the house”.
“If it is proven that it was arson, then I would be extremely worried and very alarmed, because it would show that there were racist intentions involved,” Mr Collins said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was arson . . . We have to wait until the gardaí and the fire brigade conduct their inquiries, but I am extremely suspicious.
“The house has been shrouded in controversy right from the very start, and there are people in the locality prepared to go to great lengths to make sure this Traveller family don’t get accommodated there,” he said.