A number of Traveller families yesterday moved into their new homes on a halting site outside Ennis where it is costing Clare County Council just under €400,000 to house each family.
In all, the local authority has spent €2.3 million to develop the Ballymaley site, comprising two three-bedroom homes and four serviced halting bays.
Ms Kathleen Doherty, a mother of eight, said yesterday: "The children have never lived in a house in their lives, but they love it here now and I hope that they can settle in."
The site on the Galway Road is the first permanent halting site built in Ennis since the closure of the town's Drumcliffe site by High Court order in 1997.
Since then the Dohertys and other families have been living on the side of the road at various locations around the town.
According to council figures, the most recent traveller census recorded that 54 families are living in Clare on unauthorised sites without basic services such as refuse and sanitation facilities.
Ms Doherty said she had been on the council list "since before I was a mother, and now we finally get a house when my eldest is 16. That is an awful long time."
During their time on the road, the Dohertys sought refuge on a number of occasions on the front lawn of the residence of the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh.
On another occasion, Ms Doherty's husband, Michael, spent seven days in jail for non-payment of fines imposed for the illegal parking of the family's caravan in Ennis.
Mr Doherty said: "I have been on the road all my life and I have never lived in a house and the same goes for my father before me and his father before him . . .
"It is because of the kids and their schooling that I came in here."
The chairman of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Peter Considine (FF), said: "It is an inordinately expensive site, and the Travellers should be very cognisant of the contribution the taxpayer has made to the development of the site .
"People of Ballymaley have expressed concern over the site being there, and I would expect that the Travellers would respect the site and observe normal social standards of behaviour.
"It is critically important that the council manage it properly. The site must not only work properly, but be seen to work properly," Cllr Considine said.
The Dohertys are required to pay €34 in rent each week for their three-bedroom home, and as part of the tenancy agreement no horses are allowed on site.
Mr Doherty has mixed feelings about this: "The council has done a lovely job doing the site, but it is them who are taking away the culture.
"Our travelling in the summer will never end, and the horse will never leave us. No one will take that culture from us."
