Decades of 'empty promises' for Ballyfermot Travellers at Labre Park
Promised regeneration of Traveller specific accommodation in Ballyfermot has stalled for over 25 years.
The regeneration of Labre Park, the country’s oldest Traveller site which dates back to the 1960s, includes the refurbishment of 18 existing homes and the development of 12 new-build homes. First proposed in 1999, flooding concerns have delayed these plans yet again, and put the viability of the new-builds in question.
Senior Executive Officer Collette Egan told Dublin city councillors at a recent South Central Area Committee that the project has split. She confirmed they are planning to move ahead with the refurbishment and energy retrofit of existing homes, but that their drainage and flooding team must examine what can be done regarding the new builds.
People Before Profit Cllr Hazel De Nortuin raised her concerns and said: “I am not accepting what Dublin City Council are putting forward.” She accused the council of being “very disingenuous with their language” and that, when the plans were initially put forward in the late 1990s it was for regeneration of Labre Park and that marginalised communities are bearing the brunt of historical mismanagement from the council.
“Each time, Dublin City Council brings this to the top of the hill and we work with the community, who for many social reasons are left behind. We are the ones breaking the bad news to them again and again,” she said. She said there have been three plans over the past 15 years and all of them have failed. Cllr De Nortuin compared the regeneration of Labre Park to the Kylemore Masterplan, which aims to deliver 5,000 new homes in the same area and has been able to progress to public consultation.
“You say you are going to build 5,000 homes across the road and you can’t build an additional 12 houses,” she said. Cllr De Nortuin revealed that some households had already moved out of Labre Park with the promise that they could move back after a few months when regeneration was completed. She said that was over three years ago, with displaced Travellers living in accommodation that does not meet their needs.
“It’s a shocking condemnation to the housing team that they have evicted tenants off that site on the grounds of regeneration, what’s going to happen to them?” she asked. “Some of them were given two-bed houses when they were entitled to three because they were told you’re only going to be in it for six months.”
Cllr De Nortuin stressed the council must take this issue seriously and understand the consequences of leaving behind "vulnerable ethnic minorities" while progressing large-scale multi-million euro housing developments like Kylemore. Speaking with Dublin Live, De Nortuin said a subsequent meeting with the Local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee (LTACC) revealed the need for a flood risk assessment has “put the breaks” on the planned new builds and that she hopes the council can find a way to resolve the issue in the coming weeks. However, she stressed this is not a question of if Traveller-specific accommodation will be built, but when. It is Dublin City Council's policy to provide Traveller specific accommodation for the city, and Cllr De Nortuin said that is not up for debate and what’s needed now “is identifying where that Traveller specific accommodation is going to be.”
“If we’re going to talk about inclusive and culturally diverse communities that means all aspects. If anyone has reservations about Traveller accommodation, I can wholeheartedly stand over the fact that the majority of it is how it's managed and the response historically has been that the Travelling community can regulate their own community and that’s not expected of any other group in society,” she said.
She said there have been major issues with both how the council and An Garda Siochana have historically dealt with Traveller sites. She called for an “inter-agency approach going forward.”
Cllr De Nortuin said prematurely evicting households from Labre Park with the unfilled promise of being allowed to return has isolated community members within a housing structure they are not accustomed to. As a situation that has been going on for decades, Cllr De Nortuin said that some council members involved in the project weren’t even aware that people had already been moved off-site.
“It’s been ongoing for so long that they’ve lost that aspect of what’s already been agreed upon. That’s the dangerous point, that’s the thing I keep saying, these failures in Traveller-specific accommodation always come down to the management, rather than the residents themselves,” she said.
Sinn Fein Cllr Daithi Doolan also spoke at the South Central Area meeting about the issues faced by those who have remained in substandard accommodation at Labre Park for years. He said residents have had to “wait generations” while watching other developments proceed without issue around the city.
“We manage to produce buildings at an enormous cost and yet we can’t simply meet the needs of a very small important community in Ballyfermot. It reinforces the view that, if you’re a Traveller, there’s no point showing up. If you’re a Traveller, it doesn’t matter and you need to learn to accept second best services from statutory bodies like Dublin City Council,” he said.
Cllr Doolan called for “political leadership” on this issue and for all parties and independents to stand together and say the regeneration of Labre Park “must happen as quickly as possible as a matter of urgency.” He said that people in Labre Park are living in conditions “that nobody should be living in.”
“They are in conditions that nobody in this room would want to live in or have children brought up in. But it seems to be acceptable to allow Travellers to live like that.” he said.
“It’s wrong, it’s unacceptable, and I believe I speak for a lot of other people when I say we need an urgent meeting to deliver for that community. If it means buying land somewhere else, let’s stand together and buy homes and build.”
Independent Cllr Vincent Jackson agreed that delays over the past 15 years have amounted to “empty promises.” “I am not saying the sincerity wasn’t there but they never manifested themselves with the development of Labre Park,” he said.
“There is a time and place for everything and I think, for the people of Labre Park, their time has come. They should see comprehensive redevelopment of that facility there with the additional units,” he said.
When contacted for comment a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said:
DCC’s Housing team have been working on housing scheme for Labre Park. This includes the refurbishment of 18 existing homes and the delivery of 12 new homes. As part of the process of finalising a full planning application for submission, serious concerns have now been raised by DCC’s flooding and drainage team with regards the 12 new homes proposed and the level of type of flood mitigation measures.
This does present a set-back for the project, however, DCC Housing is still committed to delivering a housing scheme at Labre and as such we are now intending to progress the project in two phases as below.
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