BY BERNIE NÍ FHLATHARTA

A Traveller family with a special needs child no longer wish to be housed in an estate on the Barna Road, but it is understood that Galway City Council may still go ahead and purchase the property.

The house in Gleann na Coille was being bought for a sum believed to be €300,000, with an additional €50,000 being paid to the owner for modification works which would make it wheelchair friendly.

Residents strongly objected to plans to house the family there and hired the services of a solicitor to represent them at meetings with City Council executives.

The residents, through their solicitor, had at all times stressed that their objections were not against Travellers but were based on serious concerns about anti-social behaviour.

Some local councillors in the area are now concerned that the Council is going ahead with the purchase of the house, despite it no longer being acquired for the purposes of housing a family with a special needs child.

Councillor Donal Lyons said he was surprised to hear that the Council still had plans to go ahead with the purchase, and wondered was it a case of the local authority being contractually bound to buy it.

“I feel very strongly in regards to the City Council’s intention to buy a house in Gleann na Coille for a price which could buy two houses in another part of the city.

“It appears that the Council executives in this case are overriding everyone, and I have been having difficulty getting straight answers to my question on the issue.

“I am extremely worried that in this instance councillors were not given all of the facts in relation to the case. I fully support the residents, as do some other councillors in the area,” he added.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.