IRELAND’S Asian residents are more likely to be Catholic than Muslim, while most Travellers live in houses or flats, according to the latest results from last year’s Census.
The census has revealed almost 60% of Asian people in the country live in Dublin, in addition to 47.7% of those who described their ethnicity as black or black Irish.
Yesterday the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published its latest findings, focussing on ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
The CSO put the number of people of Asian origin at 52,345, of whom 30,624, or 58.5%, live in Dublin.
The number of people describing themselves as black was 44,318, of whom 21,132, or 47.7%, lived in Dublin.
About 26% of the Asian population described themselves as Catholic, while 22% said they were Muslim.
One in three people with black or black Irish ethnicity was Catholic, with one-in-six a Muslim.
The figures also showed the number of people who described themselves as Travellers was 22,435 or 0.5% of the population.
Of those, 22,002 live in 4,371 private households, which were defined as one or more persons living at the same address with common housekeeping arrangements.
More than 69% of these Travellers lived in houses, flats, bedsits or other permanent structures. The remaining 31% lived in temporary dwellings like caravans.
Of 3,150 households in permanent accommodation, most rented from a council while 16% were owner-occupiers of their own homes.
The highest concentrations of Travellers was in the greater Dublin area or the west of Ireland, particularly Tuam in Co Galway.
Of all Travellers, more than 95% were Catholic while 2.5%, or 529 members of the community, were Church of Ireland.
www.cso.ie
Irish Examiner
Showing posts with label travellers and planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travellers and planning. Show all posts
Friday, 27 July 2007
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Council accuses Travellers of undermining M1
FINGAL County Council has spent €82,000 repairing an earthen bank which supported part a public road at a point where it became a flyover over the M1 motorway after claims that Travellers had excavated part of the bank.
In a High Court action aimed at removing some 90 Travellers from the site, it was alleged some Travellers had excavated into the earthen bank and seriously undermined the stability of the road which could have resulted in a road collapse.
It was also claimed that palls of thick black smoke frequently billowed across the motorway because of the Travellers' illegal site at Thomondtown, Lusk, Co Dublin.
In a counterclaim, the defendant Travellers allege the council is in breach of its duty to provide them with accommodation.
John Gallagher SC, for the council, said Dublin fire brigade had been called to the 1.2 acre site about nine times since January last.
He said the burning of waste was creating a significant risk to health and safety. The site was also completley unsuitable for the more than 90 people living there with no toilets or sanitation and there were about eight mobile homes there since November 2005.
The action, which continues today before Mr Justice Michael Peart, has been brought against nine members of the Travelling community: Martin Gavin, Sam Gavin, Michael Reilly, Arthur Purcell, Robert Gavin, Terry Mongan, Patrick Gavin, Douglas Purcell and Paul Gavin.
In a statement of claim, the council alleges the defendants had intimidated, obstructed and assaulted council employees from entering on the lands and that officers of the fire brigade had refused to enter the lands because of the nature of materials being burned and because of fears for their safety.
John Rogers SC, for the Travellers, has lodged a counterclaim alleging the defendants were tenants of Dublin City Council on St Dominick's Park halting site for over 25 years and plans had been finalised to provide them with group housing on the site.
It is claimed that, in 2005, they were attacked by another Traveller family. They said they had fled to Belfast where they stayed for a few months but came back to Dublin and moved onto the site in question.
Ann O'Loughlin
Irish Independent
In a High Court action aimed at removing some 90 Travellers from the site, it was alleged some Travellers had excavated into the earthen bank and seriously undermined the stability of the road which could have resulted in a road collapse.
It was also claimed that palls of thick black smoke frequently billowed across the motorway because of the Travellers' illegal site at Thomondtown, Lusk, Co Dublin.
In a counterclaim, the defendant Travellers allege the council is in breach of its duty to provide them with accommodation.
John Gallagher SC, for the council, said Dublin fire brigade had been called to the 1.2 acre site about nine times since January last.
He said the burning of waste was creating a significant risk to health and safety. The site was also completley unsuitable for the more than 90 people living there with no toilets or sanitation and there were about eight mobile homes there since November 2005.
The action, which continues today before Mr Justice Michael Peart, has been brought against nine members of the Travelling community: Martin Gavin, Sam Gavin, Michael Reilly, Arthur Purcell, Robert Gavin, Terry Mongan, Patrick Gavin, Douglas Purcell and Paul Gavin.
In a statement of claim, the council alleges the defendants had intimidated, obstructed and assaulted council employees from entering on the lands and that officers of the fire brigade had refused to enter the lands because of the nature of materials being burned and because of fears for their safety.
John Rogers SC, for the Travellers, has lodged a counterclaim alleging the defendants were tenants of Dublin City Council on St Dominick's Park halting site for over 25 years and plans had been finalised to provide them with group housing on the site.
It is claimed that, in 2005, they were attacked by another Traveller family. They said they had fled to Belfast where they stayed for a few months but came back to Dublin and moved onto the site in question.
Ann O'Loughlin
Irish Independent
Monday, 18 June 2007
Traveller families eye squatter claims
UP to 20 Traveller families are trying to claim squatter's rights to Dunsink Lane in West Dublin after a squatter was paid more than €1m to move off the public land.
Traveller David Joyce received a record payout of €1.1m from Fingal County Council to move off the land where he has squatted for the past 20 years, it was revealed last week. Now other Travellers who have squatted on the land for more than 20 years have initiated legal action against the council claiming their entitlements due to "adverse possession" of the land previously bought by the council under a compulsory purchase order.
A council spokesman last week confirmed that the Joyce case has opened up the floodgates for similar claims. "While the examination of the these claims has not been completed, there does appear to be significant duplication of claims," he said.
The council has tried to encourage Travellers to leave the area by offering them alternative housing as well as land and other forms of compensation.
Allison Bray
Irish Independent
Traveller David Joyce received a record payout of €1.1m from Fingal County Council to move off the land where he has squatted for the past 20 years, it was revealed last week. Now other Travellers who have squatted on the land for more than 20 years have initiated legal action against the council claiming their entitlements due to "adverse possession" of the land previously bought by the council under a compulsory purchase order.
A council spokesman last week confirmed that the Joyce case has opened up the floodgates for similar claims. "While the examination of the these claims has not been completed, there does appear to be significant duplication of claims," he said.
The council has tried to encourage Travellers to leave the area by offering them alternative housing as well as land and other forms of compensation.
Allison Bray
Irish Independent
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Councils pay price of failure with Travellers' windfall
EVERY local authority in Ireland is legally bound to draw up plans to house all members of the travelling community in its area. This legislation came into effect nine years ago, but despite this, there are now more families living on the side of the road than there were in 1998.
The issue of Travellers' rights was brought into sharp focus last week when it emerged that Fingal County Council has agreed to pay Traveller David Joyce 1.1m in compensation for the land he has been living on for more than 12 years in Dunsink Lane in Dublin. The council wants the land for a major regeneration project.
The council accepts that there are more claims on the way, with some estimating that if the state wants to get the families to move, it could cost up to 20m. Some of the travelling families who live on Dunsink Lane have been there for up to 20 years. It has been home to up to 500 people at any given time. Now the council wants the land back, except the Travellers have nowhere to go and they have rights.
The law governing squatters' rights in this country says that anyone living on land for more than 12 years where no effort has been made to move them on can claim 'adverse possession' which entitles them to ownership.
It is, perhaps, easy to feel indignant about the cash windfall that the state may be forced to pay traveller families. After all, they didn't pay a mortgage every month to the bank for their home and isn't it their choice to live on the side of the road anyway?
But it could also be argued that the state has neglected this very vulnerable section of our community for far too long and they are entitled to every penny of the money they are set to receive for 'their' land.
Close to 1,000 families in Ireland live on the side of the road. For them day-to-day existence means no electricity, no running water and no toilet facilities. The average life expectancy of a member of the travelling community is about 10 years less than a member of the settled community. Only six Travellers of Leaving Cert age did the exam in 2002.
It may well be argued that living on the side of the road is a matter of choice, but that shows a blatant disregard for the culture of the travelling community. In the UK, Travellers are recognised as an ethnic group, whereas here, we do not even go that far and Travellers are officially referred to as a 'social grouping'.
Attempts at finding accommodation for Travellers have meant pushing them towards living a settled life. The state seems to want the travelling community to live in houses, thus denying their cultural identity. The Department of the Environment says 70m was spent between 2005 and 2006 on housing provision for the travelling community, but there seems to be a lack of understanding for the fact that many simply do not want to live in houses.
Traveller groups argue that the official halting sites which have been provided, are poorly resourced and sub-standard.
For many Travellers, living on the side of the road, in places like Dunsink Lane in Dublin is the only option they have while they wait for local authorities to live up to the promises they made to provide for this unique social grouping.
For Fingal County Council, this failure to consult with the travelling community and to provide suitable accommodation for them may prove to be a costly oversight.
The law is clear: if you have lived somewhere for more than 12 years and no one has made an effort to move you on, the land is yours.
The law is also clear on the other side of the fence. Local authorities are obliged to have plans in place to house the travelling community in their areas.
Inertia on both counts has led, inevitably, to the courthouse.
Claire Byrne presents 'The Breakfast Show' with Ger Gilroy on Newstalk 106-108.
Sunday Independent
The issue of Travellers' rights was brought into sharp focus last week when it emerged that Fingal County Council has agreed to pay Traveller David Joyce 1.1m in compensation for the land he has been living on for more than 12 years in Dunsink Lane in Dublin. The council wants the land for a major regeneration project.
The council accepts that there are more claims on the way, with some estimating that if the state wants to get the families to move, it could cost up to 20m. Some of the travelling families who live on Dunsink Lane have been there for up to 20 years. It has been home to up to 500 people at any given time. Now the council wants the land back, except the Travellers have nowhere to go and they have rights.
The law governing squatters' rights in this country says that anyone living on land for more than 12 years where no effort has been made to move them on can claim 'adverse possession' which entitles them to ownership.
It is, perhaps, easy to feel indignant about the cash windfall that the state may be forced to pay traveller families. After all, they didn't pay a mortgage every month to the bank for their home and isn't it their choice to live on the side of the road anyway?
But it could also be argued that the state has neglected this very vulnerable section of our community for far too long and they are entitled to every penny of the money they are set to receive for 'their' land.
Close to 1,000 families in Ireland live on the side of the road. For them day-to-day existence means no electricity, no running water and no toilet facilities. The average life expectancy of a member of the travelling community is about 10 years less than a member of the settled community. Only six Travellers of Leaving Cert age did the exam in 2002.
It may well be argued that living on the side of the road is a matter of choice, but that shows a blatant disregard for the culture of the travelling community. In the UK, Travellers are recognised as an ethnic group, whereas here, we do not even go that far and Travellers are officially referred to as a 'social grouping'.
Attempts at finding accommodation for Travellers have meant pushing them towards living a settled life. The state seems to want the travelling community to live in houses, thus denying their cultural identity. The Department of the Environment says 70m was spent between 2005 and 2006 on housing provision for the travelling community, but there seems to be a lack of understanding for the fact that many simply do not want to live in houses.
Traveller groups argue that the official halting sites which have been provided, are poorly resourced and sub-standard.
For many Travellers, living on the side of the road, in places like Dunsink Lane in Dublin is the only option they have while they wait for local authorities to live up to the promises they made to provide for this unique social grouping.
For Fingal County Council, this failure to consult with the travelling community and to provide suitable accommodation for them may prove to be a costly oversight.
The law is clear: if you have lived somewhere for more than 12 years and no one has made an effort to move you on, the land is yours.
The law is also clear on the other side of the fence. Local authorities are obliged to have plans in place to house the travelling community in their areas.
Inertia on both counts has led, inevitably, to the courthouse.
Claire Byrne presents 'The Breakfast Show' with Ger Gilroy on Newstalk 106-108.
Sunday Independent
The young Traveller tigers who have amassed millions in land and money
AS PART of its duty to provide accommodation for Travellers under the 1998 Traveller Accommodation Act, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council is building 24 houses and 32 serviced halting site bays. Dun Laoghaire has one of the lowest populations of Travellers in Ireland and all the families being accommodated are law-abiding and cause no trouble.
The value of the accommodation, if measured in terms of property market values faced by the settled community, could be in the region of €30m.
Among the sites being developed are six houses nearing completion in land acquired from the Daughters of Charity at Temple Hill, Blackrock. A small house in the same location would cost a settled purchaser at least €1m. Three other houses are planned for land on the West Pier in Dun Laoghaire, a sea-front location that would, if it were on the market, be among the most expensive in the country.
Under the tenant purchase scheme, the Travellers have the right to buy the properties for a fraction of their market value, or pay nothing if they wait the requisite amount of time and claim possessory title - better known as the squatter's right. Meanwhile, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has a housing crisis with a housing waiting list which has almost 4,000 names on it.
The cost of property in south Dublin has also made it almost impossible for young families to buy, causing an exodus of much-needed young professionals like teachers, health workers and civil servants.
Exact figures were not available last week, but the last attempt to appraise the amount of money being spent by the Government and local councils was a "Traveller-specific" sum of around €100m, in a report in March 2006 by the High Level Group on Traveller Issues.
The amount does not take into consideration the millions being paid out on civil legal aid to Travellers taking cases against the State on a variety of issues, from equality to property rights and compensation. The report was an assessment of the work already done by the Government, to "enhance the quality of life" for Travellers in Ireland.
It found that little progress had been made for most Travellers. Two thirds of children are still leaving school at around the end of primary school; about 73 per cent of males and 63 per cent of females are claiming unemployment benefits; the Traveller population has risen by 50 per cent to around 25,000 in 20 years; and the numbers of families living on "unauthorised" sites is rising.
The example set by the Joyce family in Dunsink Lane in Finglas, who are receiving €2.6m to vacate the site they have been illegally squatting on, is likely to increase the number of squatter cases. Martin 'Ripper' Joyce, who is receiving the single biggest payment of €1.1m, is serving a three-month sentence for threatening a social welfare officer who was investigating fraudulent claims made by Joyce, who owns commercial property in Dublin and a house in Co Meath.
Fingal County Council is not commenting on the payments being made to Travellers squatting around Dunsink, other than to deny claims that they could amount to €23m. 'Ripper' Joyce's two brothers, David and Alan, are due to receive €750,000 to move from adjacent sites. Fingal County Council said it was unaware of 'Ripper' Joyce's wealth and the fact that he is facing a tax bill from the Criminal Assets Bureau understood to be €1m.
Other families remaining on the site are causing further destruction to the area, apparently in the hope that the council will be forced to pay them to leave as well. A community centre and houses specifically built for the Travellers on St Mary's Park at Dunsink have been gutted.
According to gardai, Traveller families at Dunsink are heavily involved in the drugs trade, the supply of firearms, laundering of illicit diesel and trading in parts from stolen cars. One of the families is said to be operating one of the biggest stolen parts operations in the country.
Gardai say that although Dunsink is a centre of criminality there are several law-abiding Traveller families who are as upset by the activities of the criminals as the settled community.
Fingal has the biggest Traveller accommodation programme in the country after South County Dublin. At present, Fingal is providing houses and halting sites for around 350 Traveller families, employing 16 full-time staff and providing high-spec new housing and serviced halting sites for up to 350 families.
The provision of accommodation, rather than encouraging many Traveller families to "build links with the settled community", as the 2006 Government report hoped, has started a major land grab, mostly by families involved in crime. Recent figures by the Department of Environment show that between 2005 and the end of 2006 the number of families squatting illegally in Ireland rose from 589 to 629.
One of the worst cases is in the Fingal area, on a five-acre site adjoining the MI near Lusk. The site has a potential value of around €15m for commercial development and as much as €30m for residential development.
The families who moved on to the council-owned site as soon as it was vacated by the construction firm SIAC, on the completion of the motorway two years ago, are understood to be demanding €6m to leave.
Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to move the eight extended families who have been squatting on the site, and all have been rebuffed. Two months ago gardai found a large amount of stolen goods during a search. Armed gardai were present because shots have been fired from the site.
Last April, Fingal County Council sought a High Court injunction to stop the Travellers from excavating land at the site - with the apparent intention of illegally dumping waste - as the digging was threatening the support embankment of a motorway bridge beside the site.
Ms Justice Laffoy told the Travellers that what they were doing could be dangerous to the public, and instructed them 'Several law-abiding Traveller families are upset by the activities of the criminals'
not to interfere with council officials entering on the land to inspect the potential damage to the bridge.
Counsel for the Travellers said they would agree to comply with the order. The judge warned that if there was any breach of the order, the council could seek orders for their committal to prison.
In the meantime, the Travellers have issued their own proceedings against Fingal Council and the Attorney General, seeking to prevent them from being moved on from the site. These cases are among a rapidly increasing amount of court cases involving Travellers, most of them backed by free legal aid. Gardai say that, as well as the disturbing growth in crime involving members of the Travelling community in the past decade, there is an emerging widespread conspiracy to acquire land, something that had never happened before.
According to gardai acquainted with the Travelling community, a number of rich Travellers found themselves with large quantities of cash they could not easily dispose of before the introduction of the euro.
They began buying land in cash transactions, often at or above the asking price. The increase in the value of property in the following years was suddenly seen as a way of making money, and the trend began to spread.
The same trend has emerged in England, where Travellers have been buying agricultural land at low prices and then setting up encampments which have often led to the creating of a major nuisance in surrounding areas. In several instances, local communities have clubbed together and asked to buy the land back, only to be quoted a massively inflated price.
The fact that land is already so expensive in Ireland has, it seems, led to the increase in squatting. The Government programme of providing accommodation for the entire Traveller community has greatly encouraged this trend.
The programme has also failed to see any marked change in the cultural and educational lifestyles of most Travellers or any noticeable moves towards "building links with the settled community".
At the same time crime involving Travellers has reached levels where several families are regarded as being in the top rank of organised crime gangs, and marauding packs of young male Travellers, uneducated and with little hope of any form of settled employment, are again causing widespread alarm across the State, as they embark on lives of crime.
JIM CUSACK
Sunday Independent
The value of the accommodation, if measured in terms of property market values faced by the settled community, could be in the region of €30m.
Among the sites being developed are six houses nearing completion in land acquired from the Daughters of Charity at Temple Hill, Blackrock. A small house in the same location would cost a settled purchaser at least €1m. Three other houses are planned for land on the West Pier in Dun Laoghaire, a sea-front location that would, if it were on the market, be among the most expensive in the country.
Under the tenant purchase scheme, the Travellers have the right to buy the properties for a fraction of their market value, or pay nothing if they wait the requisite amount of time and claim possessory title - better known as the squatter's right. Meanwhile, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has a housing crisis with a housing waiting list which has almost 4,000 names on it.
The cost of property in south Dublin has also made it almost impossible for young families to buy, causing an exodus of much-needed young professionals like teachers, health workers and civil servants.
Exact figures were not available last week, but the last attempt to appraise the amount of money being spent by the Government and local councils was a "Traveller-specific" sum of around €100m, in a report in March 2006 by the High Level Group on Traveller Issues.
The amount does not take into consideration the millions being paid out on civil legal aid to Travellers taking cases against the State on a variety of issues, from equality to property rights and compensation. The report was an assessment of the work already done by the Government, to "enhance the quality of life" for Travellers in Ireland.
It found that little progress had been made for most Travellers. Two thirds of children are still leaving school at around the end of primary school; about 73 per cent of males and 63 per cent of females are claiming unemployment benefits; the Traveller population has risen by 50 per cent to around 25,000 in 20 years; and the numbers of families living on "unauthorised" sites is rising.
The example set by the Joyce family in Dunsink Lane in Finglas, who are receiving €2.6m to vacate the site they have been illegally squatting on, is likely to increase the number of squatter cases. Martin 'Ripper' Joyce, who is receiving the single biggest payment of €1.1m, is serving a three-month sentence for threatening a social welfare officer who was investigating fraudulent claims made by Joyce, who owns commercial property in Dublin and a house in Co Meath.
Fingal County Council is not commenting on the payments being made to Travellers squatting around Dunsink, other than to deny claims that they could amount to €23m. 'Ripper' Joyce's two brothers, David and Alan, are due to receive €750,000 to move from adjacent sites. Fingal County Council said it was unaware of 'Ripper' Joyce's wealth and the fact that he is facing a tax bill from the Criminal Assets Bureau understood to be €1m.
Other families remaining on the site are causing further destruction to the area, apparently in the hope that the council will be forced to pay them to leave as well. A community centre and houses specifically built for the Travellers on St Mary's Park at Dunsink have been gutted.
According to gardai, Traveller families at Dunsink are heavily involved in the drugs trade, the supply of firearms, laundering of illicit diesel and trading in parts from stolen cars. One of the families is said to be operating one of the biggest stolen parts operations in the country.
Gardai say that although Dunsink is a centre of criminality there are several law-abiding Traveller families who are as upset by the activities of the criminals as the settled community.
Fingal has the biggest Traveller accommodation programme in the country after South County Dublin. At present, Fingal is providing houses and halting sites for around 350 Traveller families, employing 16 full-time staff and providing high-spec new housing and serviced halting sites for up to 350 families.
The provision of accommodation, rather than encouraging many Traveller families to "build links with the settled community", as the 2006 Government report hoped, has started a major land grab, mostly by families involved in crime. Recent figures by the Department of Environment show that between 2005 and the end of 2006 the number of families squatting illegally in Ireland rose from 589 to 629.
One of the worst cases is in the Fingal area, on a five-acre site adjoining the MI near Lusk. The site has a potential value of around €15m for commercial development and as much as €30m for residential development.
The families who moved on to the council-owned site as soon as it was vacated by the construction firm SIAC, on the completion of the motorway two years ago, are understood to be demanding €6m to leave.
Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to move the eight extended families who have been squatting on the site, and all have been rebuffed. Two months ago gardai found a large amount of stolen goods during a search. Armed gardai were present because shots have been fired from the site.
Last April, Fingal County Council sought a High Court injunction to stop the Travellers from excavating land at the site - with the apparent intention of illegally dumping waste - as the digging was threatening the support embankment of a motorway bridge beside the site.
Ms Justice Laffoy told the Travellers that what they were doing could be dangerous to the public, and instructed them 'Several law-abiding Traveller families are upset by the activities of the criminals'
not to interfere with council officials entering on the land to inspect the potential damage to the bridge.
Counsel for the Travellers said they would agree to comply with the order. The judge warned that if there was any breach of the order, the council could seek orders for their committal to prison.
In the meantime, the Travellers have issued their own proceedings against Fingal Council and the Attorney General, seeking to prevent them from being moved on from the site. These cases are among a rapidly increasing amount of court cases involving Travellers, most of them backed by free legal aid. Gardai say that, as well as the disturbing growth in crime involving members of the Travelling community in the past decade, there is an emerging widespread conspiracy to acquire land, something that had never happened before.
According to gardai acquainted with the Travelling community, a number of rich Travellers found themselves with large quantities of cash they could not easily dispose of before the introduction of the euro.
They began buying land in cash transactions, often at or above the asking price. The increase in the value of property in the following years was suddenly seen as a way of making money, and the trend began to spread.
The same trend has emerged in England, where Travellers have been buying agricultural land at low prices and then setting up encampments which have often led to the creating of a major nuisance in surrounding areas. In several instances, local communities have clubbed together and asked to buy the land back, only to be quoted a massively inflated price.
The fact that land is already so expensive in Ireland has, it seems, led to the increase in squatting. The Government programme of providing accommodation for the entire Traveller community has greatly encouraged this trend.
The programme has also failed to see any marked change in the cultural and educational lifestyles of most Travellers or any noticeable moves towards "building links with the settled community".
At the same time crime involving Travellers has reached levels where several families are regarded as being in the top rank of organised crime gangs, and marauding packs of young male Travellers, uneducated and with little hope of any form of settled employment, are again causing widespread alarm across the State, as they embark on lives of crime.
JIM CUSACK
Sunday Independent
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