RESIDENTS EVICTED FROM a Dundalk halting site have been unable to secure emergency accommodation since setting up camp in a nearby car park, a spokesperson for the families has said.

The families were left without homes in January after Louth County Council cleared the unofficial Woodland Park site, citing health and safety concerns.

The residents have since set up camp in a disused car park off the N52 in Dundalk that has no running water or toilets.

Rebecca Quinn, a spokesperson for the families, told TheJournal.ie that one of the couples there have been living in their car after losing their mobile home during the eviction.

Their children are staying with relatives away from the makeshift site, meaning the family has been effectively split up.

Discrimination

Quinn said Louth County Council had committed to funding short-term accommodation for the former Woodland Park residents but left it to them to make their own arrangements.

However, most of the families have been unable to find any emergency shelter since their eviction – something Quinn fears could be the result of discrimination.

“Every B&B and hotel in Dundalk has told us they’re full but I find it very hard to believe,” she said.

One of the children living in the car park has a disorder that causes him to bleed heavily when cut, she added.

He’s been in hospital three times since moving here. It’s not safe for him.

Quinn told TheJournal.ie that the families now plan to take a human rights case against Louth County Council to the European Court of Human Rights.

In a statement, the council said it could not comment on individual cases but was dealing with families on a case-by-case basis.

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Read: ‘The ideal situation would be to allow them go to a halting site’