An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Eileen Flynn (IND), Administrative Panel

I call for a debate on Traveller accommodation. Labre Park is the oldest halting site in Ireland. Since the age of 18, I have been working on the redevelopment of Labre Park. Two years ago, we got a playground for the children. It has been wonderful for all the children on the site. It is very unfortunate that the redevelopment of Labre Park is no longer going ahead. The residents of the site are devastated. With all my heart, I say that really wonderful people came from Labre Park, people like the Keenans and other good, famous people. I know there is some negative behaviour and I want to be able to deal with that as well.
The story is all over The Irish Times today . We were given a commitment by Dublin City Council 20 years ago. We did the Part VIII process. We negotiated with Clúid and Dublin City Council. Everything was going ahead but in the last few days, residents in Labre Park got the devastating news that the redevelopment will no longer go ahead. It is not just about Labre Park. I want a debate in the House on Traveller accommodation in general. While the committee on Travellers is working, in my opinion it is not working very effectively at the moment. Somebody needs to be held accountable for the injustice that our community is suffering on a daily basis. We see it in St. Margaret's Road in Finglas and other halting sites on the northside as well. They are left to rot. Traveller accommodation money is not being spent properly by many of the local authorities. We have at least two good examples of local authorities drawing down money but that is not happening across the island.
It would be brilliant if the Leader could contact the Minister on this. I am not expecting to have a debate on this in a week or even two weeks, but I would like to have a debate before the summer recess.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15