A standoff was set to continue today after an armed response unit, gardaí and security personnel were sent to Blackpool yesterday to remove the caravan home of a young Traveller family writes Liz Dunphy.

Cork City Council said the caravan was parked illegally on a site which needs to be developed to meet housing strategy needs and must be removed.

However, the Traveller family are refusing to move and said they have been on the site for nine months.

Superintendent of Mayfield, Mick Comyns, said that gardaí responded to a call from a security company who were tasked by Cork City Council to remove the illegally parked caravan.

People obstructed the security company and sat on the hitch of the caravan, making it impossible to safely remove it. Two community gardaí attended the scene, and they requested back-up when more people came to help the family block the caravan’s removal.

The Garda Armed Response Unit were in the vicinity and responded to the call. Superintendent Comyns said that the armed response unit was present for approximately 10 minutes before gardaí advised the security company to leave the caravan where it was. Breda O’Donoghue of the Traveller Visibility Group questioned the legality of the attempt to remove the caravan and said the response was heavy-handed and unnecessary.

“There was no need for an armed response unit, this is not proper use of garda resources,” Ms O’Donoghue said.

The young couple, who are aged 24, have two young children — one aged nine months and the other is now three.

Head of Housing with Cork City Council Valerie O’Sullivan said that the family are not currently registered on City Council’s housing list, and that although halting sites are provided for members of the Traveller community who wish to rent bays, these facilities are currently at full capacity.

However, Ms O’Donoghue said that when the family lost their previous home and became homeless they were told that they could go to Edel House shelter for women and children and the father could go to the Simon Community but there were no facilities where they could stay together, so the family had moved into a caravan.

She said that the family have now been at the site for nine months and they have nowhere else to go.

This article first appeared in the Evening Echo.