Minister of State, Kieran O’Donnell, has confirmed that Cork County Council has submitted an updated application to his Department seeking approval of €20.49m in funding to redevelop the Spring Lane halting site in Cork city. This follows an initial approval by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, on 4 August 2023, for a budget provision of €12,69m.
The halting site was the focus of a damning report from the Office of the Ombudsman for Children in 2021. It is estimated that 140 people, including at least 66 children, still live at the site.
The, ‘No End in Sight’ report noted that although the Local Authority had accepted there was extreme overcrowding and extremely poor living conditions on the site, no substantial improvements had been made despite a 2012 HSE Environmental Health Officer’s report stating that the living conditions on site render it ‘not fit for human habitation.’
The Ombudsman’s report noted claims by a Traveller advocacy group that children at the site had a high rate of childhood illness. It also said that children and residents have had to endure years of serious and ongoing rodent infestation problems as well as life-endangering threats from electrical fault and fires.
Cork County Council, in its engagement with the Ombudsman’s office reported residents hostility towards Local Authority staff, contractors, and service providers, with some residents refusing contractor access to the site to collect waste and make essential fencing, electrical, and health and safety repairs and upgrade works.
The Local Authority also stated that there were complaints of anti-social behaviour from local housing estates, which has led to local resistance to the rezoning of adjacent land for residential purposes.
The Ombudsman accepted however that “representatives of the Local Authority exhibited personal concern and compassion for the plight of the residents on the site,” and that “the Local Authority has stated that it has made every effort to resolve the difficulties encountered over the last year through meetings with groups of families and An Garda Síochána, who acted as a mediator.”