"I spent five years in London and a got a place to stay immediately I went there. I came back here two years ago, where I was born, bred and reared, and nobody will rent me a house. I'm in a caravan - my two daughters are in hospital and my wife and myself are terrified. We don't want caravans, we want houses." This is the voice of a member of one of 15 families living by the side of the road in Tralee, Co Kerry. There has never been an easy solution to the question of travellers and the settled community, and there are no indications that the issue is going to get any easier. But a start has to be made somewhere. The Kerry county manager, Mr Martin Nolan, has made it. At his instigation, a Tralee travellers/settled community consultative process has begun. Mr Nolan told a recent meeting of Tralee Urban District Council that the local authority expected to spend £100,000 this year on law suits concerning travellers' issues. The money would be spent, he said, but neither side would be any the better for it. Travellers suing the settled community, the settled community suing travellers, the courts forcing the local authority to ensure that travellers who had been moved out would be given a new place to live.
What was needed was a new approach. And so, last September, travellers, residents and business interests in the town began the process of consultation by making 45 submissions to the consultative group. The group recently held its first meeting. There was a frank exchange of views and a review of the process so far. Next February, the UDC will receive a final report from the group. The issues under examination include accommodation; sanitary facilities; education; crime; anti-social behaviour; horses and scrap.
The largest number of submissions dealt with accommodation, according to Ms Helen Fitzgerald of Tralee Regional Technical College, who is the mediator for the process. But others looked at lack of respect, inadequate information, intimidation on both sides, as well as crime, horses, employment and social awareness. It was pointed out that travellers tended to live and work in the same space but that it was almost impossible for them to rent space for grazing, stabling horses or storing scrap. On the other hand, in the settled community, most businesses were lock-ups and separate from the home. The meeting was told that travellers wanted proper toilet and water facilities, and accommodation within reasonable distance of shops and schools. They also wanted the right to manage their own areas and safe playing space for their children. The meeting was told that asking travellers to give up scrap and horses was like asking a member of the settled community to give up work.
The second stage of the consultation process examined how travellers' accommodation needs could be met, while stage three involved setting up an inter-agency group comprising representatives of local authorities, Government Departments and semi-State bodies.
Issues such as education and design of halting sites were referred to the Department of Education and the Department of the Environment, respectively. The fourth stage in the process will involve an assessment of solutions adopted elsewhere, especially in Limerick and Galway. "This is an opportunity for all parties to make an input into what is to be done to provide proper, permanent accommodation for travellers," Mr Nolan said. The fifth stage of the process involves proposing ways to improve legislation.
The group is now suggesting to the Department of Justice how practical legislative reforms might help the consultation process, including new ways of preparing halting sites that might be acceptable to both communities.
It is expected that the building of halting sites, or where appropriate, housing, will begin between March and April of next year. "The fact that this meeting has taken place is constructive and positive and indicates that all parties are willing to tackle these very difficult issues and the very difficult decisions required," Mr Nolan said.