Residents in an estate in Castlebar are living in a constant state of fear and terror due to the behaviour of Traveller families residing there. But no one knows who is housing the trouble makers. The HSE has denied it is housing them and the chair of Mayo County Council’s housing SPC said the council wouldn’t house four or five Traveller families in one private estate, so the finger points at absentee landlords and developers who are otherwise finding it difficult to rent houses.
Meadow Park, on Castlebar’s Westport Road, was a quiet, residential, sought-after area of Castlebar, until recently.
Now occupants of the estate are being subjected to abuse, late night revelry, and intimidation. That’s according to one resident who contacted the Mayo Advertiser to highlight the ongoing situation. The woman, who asked for her identity to be protected, said the estate has been “ghettoised”. She has contacted all the relevant authorities including the gardaí, the HSE, and Mayo County Council, but no one seems to want to take responsibility for the escalating situation.
This week Travellers who residing in Meadow Park and their friends spent two full days drinking outside on the green area. Children as young as two and three can be seen playing in the middle of the road and litter is being thrown into neighbouring gardens.
The woman said that her neighbours are afraid to form a residents’ committee but without collective strength in numbers she doesn’t see a stop to this anti-social behaviour.
A shooting a couple of weeks ago was the limit for this frightened woman, a Mayo native who lived in Dublin but moved back to Castlebar in search of a better quality of life. She said other residents “got out” before the recession took hold but she is stuck there, struggling to pay a mortgage, while the Travellers, who she said are not from the local area, are wreaking havoc while being handed out “freebees from the State”.
She described scenes of bottles flying, groups of men casing houses, cars parked on grass verges, and gangs congregating outside people’s houses.
“I’m stressed and terrified and suffering from headaches. My friend was woken up the other night at 5am to the sound of shouting and roaring outside and cars revving. People are living in terror, particularly at the weekends,” she told the Mayo Advertiser. “I’m terrified of the gangs of young men who drive up and down the estate all day. They know who’s home and who’s out and it’s frightening,” she added.
The estate’s children are now being banned from playing in the green area by their parents because it is being taken over by Travellers.
The HSE has denied that it is housing the families but said it does assist with rent allowance. A statement from the health service read: “Most recipients are registered for local authority accommodation and are renting from private landlords. Payments are means tested. People on rent allowance are not placed in, or relocated to, accommodation by the Health Service Executive. They source their own accommodation in the private rented sector and approach the community welfare officers for assistance with the cost. The contract is between the tenant and the landlord. There are approximately 2,000 families assisted with rent payments in Co Mayo and payments can be collected at their local post office with other social welfare payments.”
Chairman of Mayo County Council’s housing SPC Councillor John Cribbin admitted that the problem was widespread. But he pointed the finger at “greedy developers” who he said made millions when times were good and who are “using the system again”. Cllr Cribbin said he had received similar complaints from residents in a Ballyhaunis estate where a developer used an auctioneer from the Midlands to fill houses without conducting background checks or interviews. In the case of Mayo County Council, Cllr Cribbin said the local authority conducts interviews with and vets all prospective tenants, whether they are Travellers or settled people. He denied the council would house four or five Traveller families in one private estate, which is the situation that exists in Meadow Park.
Mayo County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Plan 2009 to 2013 has been adopted by its members. Over the period of the last programme, 2005 to 2009, a total of 182 families were accommodated with the support of Mayo County Council, 51 families in local authority dwellings, seven families through the Rental Accommodation Scheme, and a further 124 families were supported by Mayo County Council’s two Traveller accommodation liaison officers in securing private rented accommodation.
The number of Traveller families on the roadside decreased from 43 in 2005 to 20 at the end of 2008 and the number of families in private rented accommodation increased from 17 to 125. The newly adopted plan provides for 71 units of housing to be provided by the local authority directly in the private rented sector, through the Rental Accommodation Scheme, and by voluntary groups and others.
