Plans to fast-track the introduction of halting sites for Travellers in the greater Dublin area are to be brought forward "as a matter of urgency" at the request of the Government.
Following recent controversies over the illegal site at the Dodder Linear Park in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, and elsewhere, the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Bobby Molloy, has asked seven local authorities in counties Meath, Kildare, Wicklow and Dublin to come up with an "emergency response" to cope with anticipated similar situations this summer.
The local authorities are to jointly put together a programme based on achieving capacity for at least 15 to 20 caravans in halting sites in each of their areas by the summer. The plan would allow for capacity between neighbouring authorities to be switched, ensuring that no local authority has to allow illegal, side-of-the-road encampments due to a lack of space on legal sites.
A first seminar for officials is to be held by Fingal County Council before the end of this month.
At the Dodder Linear Park there were, at one stage, as many as 111 caravans parked illegally last year. A key focus of the plan will be to prevent the build-up of such large, unauthorised camps.
Mr Mick Fagan of South Dublin Council said the developments would be for "permanent sites for transient Travellers" as opposed to providing fixed accommodation. The councils, he said, would still have to accommodate indigenous Travellers and those who wanted settled accommodation, but they would have a "better leg to stand on legally" in moving Travellers off illegal encampments if they had capacity in approved halting sites.