âPeople sometimes come for a look around and they are shaming us. They are looking at us and laughing. It is discrimination,â says Margaret, who is proud to be a Traveller, but bridles at the discrimination endured.
âWhen we go to shops people walk away. We were in a [SPORTS]team once and one girl said, âTravellers,â and she made a face,â she told The Irish Times, who spoke to her with the permission of parents.
Her eight- year-old brother Tommy would love to live in a house, too. Often, he says, he watches rats running around the halting site. He asks if this reporter works for the council.
Spring Lane halting site: We are like people living in the Third World irishtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from irishtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Irish Times view on Traveller child rights: Shocking failures Local authority’s approach characterised as passive, careless and discriminatory
Thu, May 27, 2021, 00:03
The 10-bay Spring Lane site in Cork city is home to 38 families, including 66 children. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
The Ombudsman for Children’s description of the appalling conditions at a local authority halting site in Cork city makes for shocking reading. The 10-bay Spring Lane site, which is not identified by name in the report of the ombudsman’s investigation into it, is home to 38 families, including 66 children. About 140 people share toilets and washing facilities designed for 40. Their environment is scarcely habitable; among the issues identified there are rodent infestation, poor sanitation, extreme overcrowding, unsafe access, illegal dumping, damp living areas, inadequate waste disposal, shoddy heating systems and unsafe electrical works. Children living there have a high