*Photograph: Joe Buckley
A CLARE COUNCILLOR has said his ‘blood is boiling’ with the continued presence of an illegal encampment at the train station in Sixmilebridge while accusing the families of holding the local authority “to ransom” to try secure a house.
Drivers of train services have been instructed at Iarnród Éireann to proceed at caution through Sixmilebridge due to the presence of an illegal encampment.
Three Traveller families are currently living in the car park of the Sixmilebridge train station, having moved from Shannon in February 2021 where they had been on the grounds of St Senan’s RFC.
A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann told The Clare Echo, “This is part of a series of safety measures for the safe operation of train services arising from repeated trespass at this site, associated with an adjacent encampment on Clare County Council lands. We have also placed platform barriers at platform ends, and Clare County Council who own the car park have placed restrictors at the entrance to the car park”.
Delays of up to five minutes approximately have been experienced for all services at Sixmilebridge as a result but on some occasions the length of time has been greater. “While this does not affect customers’ ability to make connections in the vast majority of cases, we do hold connecting trains should it be required. We are liaising with Clare County Council, who continue to endeavour to resolve the issue of the illegal encampment,” the spokesperson added.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) voiced his frustration with the consistent delays. “We can’t put up with this any longer, we’ve been held to ransom, Clare County Council, train users and people from Sixmilebridge, everything has been done from An Garda Síochána to try sort it out.
“They are there over two years, it boils my blood that they can break the law to use it as a lever to be housed, other people are on the housing list for years and going by the book to get a house, these people are breaking the law and it is scandalous,” the Kilmurry representative stated. He said he has been contacted by commuters from Sixmilebridge, Quin, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Broadford and O’Callaghans Mills on the issue.
According to Cllr O’Callaghan rail commuters are timing their journeys so that they don’t have to wait on the platform. “People are living in fear, it is total disregard and what we fought for to get the train station”. He said “some local TDs took great pride in moving them on from Shannon but they have been in Sixmilebridge for two years. The Council are exhausted and have done everything in their power to accommodate these people, we need to come up with an alternative and move them on as soon as possible”.
“Retired people who used to love using station, they would park up for the day, come and go and now they will not darken the platform of Sixmilebridge because of what is going on at the platform. There are bikes, toys, trampolines, it’s been treated like a playground, fear and intimidation is there”.
Bridgie Casey of Ennis Traveller CDP told The Clare Echo, “There are three families living there two years. The three families are on the housing list for several years, living without no facilities. The families do not want to be there, but they have no choice or option as they were never offered any type of accommodation from Clare County Council. The Clare County Council under the Traveller Accommodation Act 1998 and under the Traveller Accommodation programme have an obligation and duty of care to house those families but failed to do so. So, the real question here is, where do these families go? With the current housing crisis, we are guaranteed to see more of these scenarios occurring as families have simply nowhere to go”.
