The issue of housing Traveller families came up at the November meeting of the housing SPC of Mayo County Council this week. Both Cllr Gerry Ginty and Cllr Eddie Staunton brought up the issue at Thursday morning’s meeting. Director of services for Mayo County Council, Martin Keating, told the members: “We will be having a meeting of the local Traveller consultative committee in December to review the progress we have made this year and will report to this SPC in the new year.”
Cllr Staunton asked what the current situation was with Traveller families on the roadside in the county. Senior executive officer for Mayo County Council, Padraig Flanagan, replied: “At present there are two to three families on the roadside in Mayo, but they are by choice. They have had reasonable offers of housing, but have chosen to stay there.” He said the figures represented an all time low in the county.
