Laois Council asked to ensure caravans can't return to site at The Heath

Laois County Council has been urged to introduce measures to prevent caravans returning to a location at The Heath in Portlaoise.  

Fianna Fail Cllr Paschal McEvoy asked in a motion at a recent meeting: “That Laois County Council put in place measures that will stop unauthorised Dwellings/Caravans using land at a site at Treacys Cross the Heath in the future.”

In a written response, a Senior Engineer at the Council’s Housing section stated that: “The Housing Department will be installing measures to try to prevent unauthorised Dwellings / Caravans using this site.”

Cllr McEvoy said the caravans which moved in pre-Covid had only moved from the site in recent weeks. He acknowledged the work of the Council’s housing section in the removal of the caravans and said it had been a “long drawn out” process. 

Cllr McEvoy said it was “unfair” that they had been permitted to stay there for so long. “If I pulled in my car I wouldn’t be left there very long,” he said.  Cllr McEvoy noted that the site had been secured but said he would like to see permanent measures to prevent a return of the caravans. 

“There was residents up there who were very frightened for a long time, it is not right” said Cllr McEvoy. He claimed there had been “intimidation” in the area.  

Independent Cllr Aidan Mullins said he was in complete agreement. He said caravans had since pulled into the Landsdowne Estate in Portarlington and the overflow carpark beside the community creche behind the community centre in Portarlington. 

“The law and the enforcement should be an awful lot stricter,” he stated. Cllr Mullins said  “the Council would be all over me like a rash” if he put his son in a caravan on his own land.  

He claimed people can pull into private land and estates and cause “havoc” and can be involved in dumping and the response is very slow. 

“The system that is in place, it can take months,” said Cllr Mullins. He said the Council roads department should also have a role in such cases. 

Independent Cllr Aisling Moran said “it seems to be one rule for one and one rule for the other.”

She described the cost involved in dealing with the situation at The Heath in recent years was phenomenal. “It can’t be, you are against a certain race or whatever. A law is a law,” she said. 

She said policies may have to be considered at a national level. “A law is a law and it is for everybody,” she repeated. 

Cllr Moran also said that people staying in unauthorised areas shouldn’t be given further options if the Council offers them a house and they refuse to take it. 

The motion was seconded by Cllr Mullins at the monthly meeting of Porarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District.