An estimated 400 residents from the Dalkey/Killiney area of south Co Dublin last night opened a campaign to achieve a Special Area Amenity Order (SAAO) for Dalkey/Killiney Hill.
The residents, who had attended a meeting to protest at Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's plans to establish a travellers' halting site at Dalkey Quarry, were told the SAAO was the best way to defeat the council's plans.
A resident, Mr Ged Pierse, told the meeting the Dalkey Community Council had received a letter from the county council to the effect that the halting site was a fait accompli. The site would accommodate 120 travellers in the west quarry, an area of amenity used by national mountaineering groups, schools and the Dublin-based universities.
The Cathaoirleach of the county council, Mr Donal Marren, said a plan for nine halting sites, based largely on the Dublin County Council plan of 1986, was adopted by the members of the Council last March. This plan did not include a site at Dalkey Quarry.
The Dalkey Quarry site was among an additional seven sites put forward by the Assistant County Manager but this was rejected by the councillors. The Democratic Left TD for Dun Laoghaire, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said that it was important to understand the recently enacted Travellers' Accommodation Bill. This gave the power to decide the location of halting sites to the county manager only if the council could not adopt a policy of its own. This had not happened in Dun Laoghaire's case.
Mr Gilmore warned, however, that if every community objected to the establishment of halting sites, the adopted plan would fail and the issue would go to the council officials by default.