Clare County Council's €28 million Traveller accommodation programme has been thrown into disarray after the county manager withdrew a compulsory purchase order for a site earmarked for a €2 million Traveller accommodation unit.
Alec Fleming made the rare move after councillors voiced their opposition to the CPO on lands at Kilmorane on the outskirts of Ennis.
In pursuing the CPO, the council had placed in jeopardy two €250,000 homes currently being built for two elderly settled couples on the site. An Bord Pleanála had earmarked September 15th for an oral hearing where the council and landowner David Sheedy were expected to clash.
Mr Sheedy had lobbied councillors for the Ennis electoral area for the council not to press ahead with the CPO and the seven councillors met Mr Fleming.
"They were misinformed by the council on the situation and they subsequently met Mr Fleming," Mr Sheedy said. "I believe that the meeting was crucial and no doubt the council looked into the whole legal aspect to the case and saw it was a no-win situation and they would've been further embarrassed at the Bord Pleanála oral hearing."
He added: "The kernel of it is why was planning permission given to me by the council and then the council identified the site as a halting site. There is a complete contradiction there."
No reason was given in the letter to Mr Sheedy for the council's U-turn. "From the outset," he said, "the council trying to CPO the land was morally wrong. It was so frustrating that the council couldn't see that."
Asked why the council has withdrawn the compulsory purchase order, a spokeswoman for the council's Traveller accommodation unit said: "We don't wish to make any further comment on the matter of the Kilmorane site."
Martin Collins of Traveller rights organisation Pavee Point last night expressed "serious concern" over the move.
"It is wrong and very disappointing that the county manager has apparently succumbed to pressure from a very powerful lobby group on the issue.
"It makes Mr Fleming very vulnerable on other matters relating to Traveller accommodation and I have no doubt that if the CPO related to a road, the CPO process would be complete."
He added: "It is very, very rare that a CPO would be withdrawn for Traveller accommodation and the last occasion it has taken place was in the late 1980s."
Mr Collins said he had sympathy with the landowner in this instance. "It does appear to have been very messy and badly managed."
Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) said that the withdrawal of the CPO "further complicates the provision of Traveller accommodation".
