The number of traveller families living on the roadside in the county has fallen by 25 in the first two years of Mayo County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Plan, which will run until 2014. The plan was due for review after two years and the elected members of the council were given a report last week on the progress of the plan by Martin Keating, Senior Executive Officer for Mayo County Council.
The headline figure from the review was that there are only three Traveller families still currently living on the roadside in the county, down from 28 in 2009, and those three families have all been offered purpose-built accommodation in Castlebar and Charlestown. Another major achievement had been that the plan calling for a provision of 54 housing units for Traveller families in three years, had been surpassed with a total of 156 units provided in the first two years.
The breakdown of housing providers are 15 local authority units, 119 in private rented accommodation, 10 Ras units and 12 from voluntary groups.
It was recommended that no changes be made to the plan for the final two years of its lifespan. Cllr Eddie Staunton, chairperson of the housing SPC, stated: “It’s great to see the amount of work being done in this area. I never thought I would see the day when anything like this would be achieved with such good results.” Cllr Damien Ryan also added his support saying: “It’s hard to believe that we have seen a reduction of the number of families living on the roadside down to only three in such a short space of time”.
