Travellers claim they were ‘tricked’ over offer of housing

Residents evicted from a Dundalk halting site have set up home in the disused car park of a nearby industrial estate and claim they had been “tricked” by Louth County Council.

The residents, mostly Travellers and including a pregnant woman and mothers with children, watched yesterday as their caravan homes were lifted on to the back of lorries to be taken into storage. The car park has no running water or toilets.

The council insisted on the eviction of the 23 families from Woodland Park halting site last week, citing health and safety issues. Michael Collins and Ellen McDonough, who were preparing to sleep in Mr Collins’s car, accused the council of tricking them into believing they would be rehoused. “But we turned up and the lady behind the desk in the estate agents did not have anything available and the auctioneer was not there, ” Mr Collins said.

Last night the council said it had appointed a letting agent who was “actively working with all letting agencies across Louth to identify available rental properties”.