A DUBLIN man convicted for his role in a "terrifying" vigilante raid on a traveller site in Co Cork claims to have moved traveller caravans on behalf of Dublin County Council on more than a dozen occasions.
Mr Reginald Brogan, a self employed forklift operator who is currently appealing against a jail sentence imposed for the attack in Bantry in 1994, says he has invoices to prove he was employed regularly by the council to "shift" traveller caravans.
South Dublin County Council, one of the bodies created on the break up of Dublin County Council, said it has no knowledge of Mr Brogan or his firm, Shift and Lift. A spokesman for Fingal County Council said it used Mr Brogan at a traveller site on one occasion, but that he was employed through a sub contractor.
Up to 12 men were said to have been involved in the attack on the Bantry 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.
The judge described the incident, which resulted in substantial damage to the caravans, as a terrifying experience.
Mr Brogan told The Irish Times, he was only brought in to move traveller caravans in Dublin "as a last resort" after county council officials had been involved. He could not recall names but he was sure he was working directly for the council. As far as he was aware, the operations were always carried out within the law, and gardai were present "most of the time".
"Usually there was no problem. My job would be to shift the caravans on to trailers, and then bring them to serviced sites in, say, Clondalkin or Finglas."
Mr Brogan said that up to about three years ago he had carried out work for Dublin County Council over a period of about five years. Usually, travellers were present when the removals took place, but there was "never any hassle". On one occasion, a traveller child was sick and the "inspector" decided not to move the caravan.
According to Fingal County Council, Mr Brogan was employed several years ago to move an illegally parked caravan at Ballyogan halting site. The occupant had removed a wheel, so a low loader was needed to move the caravan.
A council spokesman said Mr Brogan's plant hire business was, contracted to do the work by a private company. "We're quite strict about the management of sites. We always have a Garda presence, and we don't use any unacceptable force," he said.
The Labour TD, Mr Sean Kenny, called on the Minister for the Environment to obtain further information on the record of Shift and Lift in dealing with the travelling community.
Last September Mr Brogan was sentenced to six months' imprisonment by Bantry District Court for maliciously damaging caravans in the town. Three other men, including his son Garry, also received jail sentences.
Dublin Corporation and Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council said they have never employed Mr Brogan.