The High Court has dismissed a challenge by Cullenagh residents to Tipperary North Riding County Council’s plan to provide a house to a Traveller family near Ballina, Co Tipperary.
Mr Justice Hanna held that the council could use its general statutory housing powers to accommodate Charlie and Noreen O’Reilly and their eight children. Their inclusion in the council’s Traveller Accommodation Programme did not limit the family to accommodation specifically listed in that programme.
The O’Reilly family were living in roadside caravan accommodation near Ballina. The court recorded that their conditions were cramped and unfit. Mrs O’Reilly had a physical disability, one child had scoliosis, two children had special needs and another had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The family had been on the housing list since 2000.
The council bought a house in Cullenagh in 2008 after determining that it was suitable for the family. Local residents David Fitzgerald, Pat Rohan, Debbie Rohan, Evelyn Rohan and Brenda Maguire challenged the proposed letting. They also purported to represent about 62 other members of Cullenagh Residents Association.
Their case was that the council and County Manager had to act within the Traveller Accommodation Programme adopted for 2005-2008. They argued that the Cullenagh property was a once-off house which did not fall within the programme’s listed categories, including standard local-authority housing, group housing, serviced sites and rural houses.
The council argued that it was using wider housing powers to meet the family’s specific needs rather than implementing the Traveller programme alone.
The High Court accepted that position. Mr Justice Hanna held that Traveller accommodation legislation must be read together with the wider Housing Acts and did not remove the council’s existing power to provide ordinary housing. Excluding the O’Reilly family from those general housing rights because they were Travellers would, the judge said, conflict with constitutional equality protections.
The court also held that the proposed letting was an executive function for the County Manager. The residents’ application was dismissed.