THE Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, has been urged to investigate claims made in a court that a Dublin businessman was hired by a local authority to "shift" travellers.
The call for Mr Howlin's intervention was made in the Dail yesterday by Mr Chris Flood, Fianna Fail spokesman on travellers.
The businessman, Redge Brogan, told Skibbereen District Court that "Dublin County Council" regularly hired him to move travellers. He also said that he was given £1,000 in a cash deposit in Bantry on the morning that a gang of up to a dozen men allegedly attacked a travellers' camp in September 1994.
The judge described the incident, during which occupied caravans were damaged, as a terrifying experience for the travellers.
Mr Flood said the court reports were extremely worrying. He said it would be deeply disturbing if any element of law breaking transpired from actions initiated by a local authority. He said that the local authorities mentioned in the court case should clarify the allegations and make it clear whether or not they were engaged in hiring people to take part in what could turn out to be serious disturbances.
"I have never heard of this type of thing before. There have been cases where Dublin County Council moved against travellers, but used the sheriff and gardai and operated within the law," Mr Flood added.
Travellers' representatives said they were not surprised by Brogan's testimony. A spokesman for South Dublin County Council, which has the largest concentration of traveller families living in its area, said it was not familiar with Brogan and would have nothing to do with the sort of operation for which he was convicted.
Brogan, who runs a company called Shift and Lift, was appealing against the severity of a jail sentence imposed for his part in damaging travellers' caravans at pantry in 1994.
Up to 12 men were said to have been involved in an attack on the camp. Allegations were made that caravans were hoisted and then dropped to the ground and that a forklift truck was driven at a woman with a young baby.
Brogan told the court he had been hired to move the camp by a man claiming to be an employee of Cork County Council. He said "Dublin County Council" regularly hired him to "shift" travellers.
He told the court he was "sorry for what happened" and said he was prepared to pay compensation to the travellers and to help gardai search for the person who had arranged the attack.
A spokeswoman for Pavee Point, the travellers group, said she was aware that this sort of thing" had happened in the past. She added that the role of gardai, in the Bantry case and in general, needed to be examined. "But the bottom line is if the county council had met its obligations by providing sufficient accommodation in the first place, this wouldn't happen anyway.
Mr Pat Smith, senior administrative officer with South Dublin County Council, said that when travellers were moved this was always done in keeping with the law. A number of families had been moved in the past year, but always through legal process and with the supervision of the Garda.
"And there have been cases where our staff have been severely intimidated by travellers," he added. "I want to put that on record."