Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Ombudsman for Children launched a report in May 2021 detailing the very serious concerns for residents in Spring Lane, Cork. It found that the living conditions were deplorable. The ombudsman’s report had ten recommendations, with 17 actions which needed to be taken. Last November, Deputies Ellis, Joan Collins and I visited the site as part of the committee and, to be upfront, we were absolutely appalled at the conditions the Traveller community had to put up with. They raised concerns with us on the day and we brought these issues back to Cork City Council, which we met later that evening.

We have since been contacted by residents to tell us that these issues still have not been resolved a year later. There are issues where toilets are still not up to scratch and are still backing up and flooding during bad weather and Cork City Council has not concreted a bay at the lowest point of the site, which it promised to do last February. One family who spoke to us on the day had a leaking roof; they received a guarantee that this would be addressed but a year on, it is still not sorted. As we go into the winter months, it is very concerning.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Cork City Council need to make sure these issues are addressed with urgency. The reality is that we are 18 months on from this damning report and these families are still living in deplorable conditions. The Minister of State will agree it is totally unacceptable.

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