A GROUP of residents from Ballina, Co Tipperary staged a protest at the offices of North Tipperary Co Council yesterday over plans to house a local Traveller family in a private housing estate in the village.
Over 200 residents of the Cullina housing estate in Ballina voiced their opposition at a specially convened public meeting in the Lakeside Hotel in the town on Thursday evening. A delegation of residents then voiced their opposition to the plan at the office of the council in Nenagh yesterday.
It has been alleged that the council purchased a house for about €460,000 for the family.
The family has been camped in caravans in an area known locally as Quarry Lane for the past 10 years. The family is well known in Ballina and has children attending the local national school.
Chairman of the Cullina Residents’ Association, Paddy Collins, was at pains to point out yesterday that the Cullina residents did not have any quarrel with the family.
“Our quarrel is with the county council and the manner in which they have forced this through. We have sought a meeting with the council executive but they have refused point blank to meet us,” Mr Collins said.
“We are not being discriminatory or xenophobic in our concerns. We support the Travellers in their efforts to be housed but we have serious concerns in the manner the council has attempted to push this through behind everyone’s, including our local representatives’, backs,” Mr Collins added. He also raised concerns about the amount of money spent buying the house.
Officers in the housing section of the council were unavailable for comment yesterday.