MINISTERIAL briefings detailed a “serious risk of loss of life” from burning rubbish as well as a cliff face that was in danger of collapse due to “unauthorised excavation” at a Traveller accommodation centre in Cork.
The Spring Lane site in Cork had been the subject of a scathing report from the Ombudsman for Children in May, which said the rights of children living there had been violated.
An internal briefing, prepared for Minister of State for Planning and Local Government Peter Burke in July, detailed the long history of problems at the site including issues around illegal dumping and the unauthorised excavation of a cliff face.
It also explained how Cork City Council said it was a struggle to source new mobile homes for residents as supply dried up and prices rose during the pandemic.
The detailed briefing prepared by Department of Housing officials for the minister said the site had originally been intended for use by 10 families but that this had grown over the years to around 32, and the site was now “very overcrowded”.
It said the halting site was at the base of a cliff which has been subject to “unauthorised excavation”. “As a result, the cliff is now unstable and in need of urgent restabilisation,” the minister was told.
Cork City Council claimed to have encountered “resistance” in carrying out the cliff works and at one stage sewerage pipes had been deliberately damaged.
Two concerted attempts had been made to carry out the stabilisation works with around €360,000 spent on the works.
However, the works had since been vandalised and it was now considered even “more unstable” than beforehand with residents living at the base of the cliff.
A “serious risk of loss of life” had been reported from an adjoining property, a disused quarry known as Ellis Yard, according to the briefings.
It said the yard had been used as an amenity site for residents of Spring Lane and that the council had found it “challenging to confine people to the halting site”.
Unauthorised dumping and burning of rubbish were a serious risk, especially for children.
The environmental conditions were so bad there that Cork City Fire Brigade had responded to a total of 113 calls during 2018.
A “substantial environmental clean-up” operation had taken place with fencing installed and other minor works to try and make the site safer.
However, the briefing said the council had faced “opposition” to the works and had incurred significant security costs during the clean-up.
Cork City Council had since applied for permission to build ten four-bed bungalows on the site to provide much-needed accommodation and cut down on illegal dumping.
The Department of Housing said that even prior to the Children’s Ombudsman report, they had been having monthly meetings with Cork City Council about the site.
They said €700,000 had been provided to the council for cliff works and electrical upgrades, as well as general maintenance works.
A further €5.4 million in funding had been approved for the development of bungalows on the adjoining site while a mediator would be employed to work with the council and its occupants.
A spokesman said, “[The] Department has confirmed to Cork City Council that funding will not be an obstacle to making progress.”
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