The presence of an “illegal encampment” near the council owned camping site in Portumna has reached boiling point says local councillor, Ivan Canning.
Described as a “serious issue”, Cllr Canning shared concerns surrounding the illegal encampment situated in the town beside the Dowager House, across from the council’s camping site has led to fewer numbers of visitors to the site this year, impacting the town’s tourism.
Speaking at this week’s meeting of Loughrea Municipal District, Cllr Canning raised the issue for the fourth time, sharing his frustration at the lack of action from the council and the OPW (Office of Public Works ) in the removal and relocation of the campers.
“This was raised at the last meeting and I was told it was the OPW’s responsibility. If that is the case then fine, can the OPW please do something on this. We are waiting and waiting for some support.”
Having continually raised the topic in previous MD meetings, Cllr Canning has described the situation as “being passed from Billy to Jack,” between the council and other state organisations.
“This is killing the council’s RV park,” said Cllr Canning, “These are the worst two months we have had since the park opened.”
Audibly frustrated, Cllr Canning stated that he had received a number of pictures from local volunteer groups, such as Tidy Towns, depicting litter including human excrement that has been found near the settlement.
“I won’t even show ye the pictures, they are that bad,” said Cllr Canning, adding, “These people are volunteers, they should not be expected to go down and clean up people’s excrement.”
Acknowledging the “trickiness” of the situation, Cllr Canning said, “The encampment needs to be moved, if we don’t stand up and make a move now, we never will, because this is impacting local businesss and the finances of the council.
“I don’t like to come into meetings and use threatening language, but something has to be done by the next meeting or something will be done by those of us in Portumna.”
