Caravans and headstones exercise Galway politicians
Illegally parked caravans and damage to graves during the erection of a giant monument has infuriated Loughrea councillors
The erection of a giant cemetery monument and illegally parked caravans were two issues which greatly exercised Loughrea councillors at their November monthly meeting.
Councillor Michael 'Moegie' Maher (FG) asked what Galway County Council was doing to pursue the cost of damage caused to other graves in Mountpleasant Graveyard recently.
“There was serious damage to other graves and families are very upset about it. It was done when these people came to erect a headstone,” he told the meeting.
Director of Services with responsibility for Loughrea, Eileen Ruane, said the damage was the responsibility of the contractor which had built the monument. The local authority had consulted with its legal team about the best way forward to handle the issue.
Cllr Maher said another council had knocked down a headstone in a cemetery for breaching scale guidelines.
“An ordinary family plot is 16 by 9 [feet]. This is costing €180,000, it's an absolute monstrosity,” he declared.
“It's going to get worse. Those families are on the dole. Where is the money coming from? The public are going berserk about this at the moment. We need to say: 'this is the land you have'. If you go outside that: 'you pay for a double plot'. These fellas come in at 5am in the morning and don't care about anyone else.
“I buried my own mother a while ago and didn't spend anything like that because I couldn't afford it.”
Cllr Ivan Canning (FF) asked if there was any update on an illegal encampment of caravans on land owned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in Portumna.
He said he had raised the issue several times and had been brought before an ethics committee as a result. He has now been told Galway County Council had not been in touch with the OPW about the encampment at the Portumna Marina Motorhome Aire, managed by Waterways Ireland and Galway County Council.
“I've a serious issue about this – to be told nothing has been done about it - one-and-a-half years later and still no movement. Why didn't Galway County Council approach the OPW about it? Nothing has been done. Galway County Council are losing money here. People are stopping coming to the RV park in Portumna.”
Cllr Canning said he had discovered that Galway Council had placed an undated letter on an illegally parked caravan in Killimor that morning.
“It's baffling,” he exclaimed. “There's no date on the letter. What's the follow up? Do we give them a week to move on? I was told we have no place to put an illegal car or caravan if we issue something. We're sending out employees to put out notices and we have no follow up. You're wasting my time and everyone else's time We're all busy people. This thing this morning typifies what's going on – we can't go back because there's no date [stated by which] to remove it.”
Ms Ruane said she had personally raised the issue of the illegal encampment with the OPW, who had responded they were taking legal advice.
Senior engineer Gerard Haugh said it was the Council's practice to issue a letter of intent advising the occupants of an illegally parked vehicle to move on while giving them the chance to secure alternative accommodation.
There was no date on this letter, but if the offending vehicle or caravan was not moved “within relatively short period of time”, a notice under Section 69 of the Irish Roads Act 1993 was issued. This grants local road authorities and An Garda Síochána the power to remove unauthorised temporary dwellings such as caravans, mobile homes, tents, or vehicles used for habitation parked on public roads.
There were currently four locations in the Loughrea Municipal District where staff were working to find alternative accommodation for people in unauthorised temporary dwellings, he said.