Press Release May 2005
Pavee Point is organising a protest to demonstrate our solidarity with Irish Travellers who are faced with threatened evictions in Britain and to raise broader human rights issues on Friday the 13th May from 12.00 to 14.00 outside the British Embassy, Ballsbridge.
Nora Sheridan, a young mother facing eviction from Dale Farm, has called for a "freedom march" in the UK against the planned destruction of the UK's largest Traveller settlement at Cray's Hill, Essex. The march, which has been endorsed by the Dale Farm Housing Association, will take place at 12 noon on Saturday, l4 May at Dale Farm in Essex. Pavee Point representatives will attend the march.
Travellers hope this last appeal will
persuade the local council leader to call off what would be an
inevitably violent attack on the settlement. Such an eviction was
originally contemplated for l3 May, when temporary planning permission
expires.
The council have set aside £1.5 million to cover the expected
cost of evictions. In similar operations at nearby Chelmsford and at
Ridge, Hertfordshire, riot police have been mustered in support of
bailiffs and numbers of Travellers have been assaulted and injured.
A chalet-home, three caravans including a mobile-home and several vehicles were destroyed. Significant of private property and personal belongings were burned and ploughed up in these two evictions. Evidence, including extensive video film, has been compiled for the preparation of nearly a dozen cases under the Human Rights Act against Hertsmere District Council, Constant & Co (Bailiffs) and the Chief Constable of Hertfordshire. Legal aid has been granted for some of the work being undertaken by Davies Gore Lomax of Leeds.
- The current situation in the UK where Deputy Prime Minister Prescott admits there is a shortage of 4,500 pitches in England alone has arisen from the scrapping of the Caravan Sites Act under the Conservative government in 1994 whereby responsibility was removed from the local authority for site provision.
- Travellers were encouraged to enter the private market, buy land and build their own sites yet are confronted with a planning system that rejects 90% of applications from Gypsies and Travellers.
- Pavee Point calls on the British Government to respect people’s right to diversity in accommodation and to put mechanisms in place to ensure appropriate accommodation for Travellers and Gypsies in Britain.
- Pavee Point appeals to the Local District Council to engage with Travellers to find the mechanisms to discuss the issue and find a resolution that is to everyone’s benefit
- During the recent general election campaign in the UK there was a sustained and well organised campaign from some politicians and the media against Gypsies and Travellers, one of the most vulnerable groups who suffer racism and discrimination across Europe. Pavee Point calls on the new Government to take the work of the Traveller Law Reform Coalition seriously and to implement their final recommendations.
Issued by Pavee Point Travellers Centre 46 North Great Charles Street, Dublin 1. 01 8780255
For further details please contact John Paul Collins or Terry Battles.