Sir, - I have just received a letter from a local county councillor informing me of a council plan to convert the piece of land known as Coolmine Park in Blanchardstown into a millennium park. It seems that before the permanent boundary treatment can begin, the council considers it necessary to temporarily secure the park. The councillor writes that "following consideration of a number of factors, including effectiveness, speed of provision, reusability, cost etc., it is proposed to erect a line of boulders along the roadside edge of the park. The rock has been ordered and work will commence within the next few days."
The councillor fails to mention that there are Traveller caravans pitched on that piece of land and have been for some time. This letter was preceded by a letter on the previous day from another local representative calling on the Garda to immediately seize the trailers under the trespass law in the same way as they would seize a car.
I do not know the Travellers on the site. I do not know where they have come from or if the council intends to offer them alternative accommodation. But I do know that Travellers are being treated badly.
There are 21,000 Travellers in Ireland, half of whom have no access to toilet facilities, piped water, refuse collection or electricity. Male Travellers have over twice the risk of dying prematurely than settled males. The risk to Traveller women is more than three times that of their settled counterparts; few Traveller women live beyond the age of 50. Infant mortality is three times the rate for the settled population.
The question for me is not that we should not have a millennium park. But can we really justify it in our hearts when we know that there are people in the area, e.g. in Cruisrath, St Christopher's field and Cappagh field, living in subhuman conditions as described above?
As we approach the millennium celebrating Christ's coming into the world and 2000 years of Christianity, we know that from his words and his works that Jesus exercised a preference for the poor. Can we respond generously to Christ's knocking on our doorsteps in the form of the Travelling People? Who will provide the land so that they may have a new life? - Yours, etc., Grace Fayne,
Glenville Road, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.