Ennis Councillors argue that there is a role for Clare County Council in dealing with an illegal encampment that’s been set up in the town.
The site, on the Tulla Road, is in private ownership, which limits the local authority’s ability to act against the estimated 100 people living there.
Residents in a nearby housing estate say they’re worried that it represents a COVID-19 hazard.
Last evening’s meeting was attended by three residents of the Castle Park Estate on the Tulla Road in Ennis, but the meeting heard that over 50 people would have been there in normal times, such is their anger at the situation.
For nearly two weeks now, they’ve encountered problems associated with an illegal encampment that has been established on a privately-owned site along the Tulla Road.
Castle Rock resident Roseanne Healy says those issues are not minor.
Added to those problems are concerns related to COVID-19, and the meeting heard claims that some of those living in the encampment are not following public health guidelines.
The residents want immediate action taken, but the Council can’t act alone because the encampment is not on their land.
However, some of the issues are reported to have been evident on nearby publicly-owned lands, adjacent to the River Fergus, and last night Ennis Councillors unanimously backed residents’ calls for action to be taken.
Local Fine Gael Councillor Johnny Flynn says this will require a number of agencies to come together.
