Vol. 514 No. 3
253 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason sanction was refused by his Department for a site at the Roman Arch, Lower Dodder Road, which Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had approved for a halting site; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4071/00]
Provisional approval to the funding of an eight bay permanent halting site and caretaker's facility at Lower Dodder Road was given by my Department to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in February 1997. However, the council subsequently sought my consent for the appropriation, for the purposes of the housing Acts, of the land on which the halting site was to be located. This was necessary as the local authority was in effect proposing to use the site for purposes other than that for which it had originally been acquired.
When considering the council's request for my consent to the appropriation of the land for housing purposes I reviewed all aspects of the issue, including the general suitability of the location for housing and related development. Dublin Corporation had purchased the site in 1980 as part of its policy to provide a Dodder Valley parkway. However, under the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993, there was a redrawing of the local authority boundaries in the area with effect from 1 January 1994 and the site became part of the functional area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Planning permission for housing development on the site had been refused by Dublin Corporation, then the planning authority for the area, and on appeal by An Bord Pleanála, on the grounds that it was the objective of the corporation as expressed in its development plan then in force to secure the reservation as open space of lands abutting the River Dodder. An Bord Pleanála found that the site, while separated from the river by Dodder Road Lower, was an integral part of the river valley and the proposed development would have taken from the open character of the area, interfered with views and prospects regarded as being of special amenity value and inhibited the satisfactory achievement of the local authority's objective.
Having regard to the purposes for which the land had previously been appropriated, the history of flooding associated with the site and the fact that the proposed site was at the intersection of the boundaries of three local authorities, I considered, in all the circumstances of this case, that it would, on balance, be inappropriate to give consent to the appropriation of the land for housing purposes.
As regards the issue of traveller accommodation generally, I reaffirm my commitment to providing the necessary framework and support, legislative and financial, to accelerate the provision of accommodation. The Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998, requires all relevant housing authorities to draw up and adopt five year traveller accommodation programmes by 31 March 2000. I am confident that these programmes, when adopted, will advance the provision of accommodation to meet the needs of travellers.
