O'Donoghue v City of Limerick

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeMr. Justice Herbert
Judgment Date06 February 2003
Neutral Citation2003 WJSC-HC 10377
Docket Number[1999 No. 354
CourtHigh Court
Date06 February 2003

2003 WJSC-HC 10377

THE HIGH COURT

RECORD NO. 354 JR/1999
O'DONOGHUE v. LIMERICK CORPORATION
JUDICIAL REVIEW

BETWEEN

JANE O'DONOGHUE AND PATRICK O'DONOGHUE
APPLICANTS

AND

THE MAYOR, ALDERNEN AND BURGESSES AND COPORATION OF THE CITY OF LIMERICK
RESPONDENTS

Citations:

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S13

HOUSING (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1992 S10

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S8

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S7

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S6

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 PART II

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S2(1)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S13(1)

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S29

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S9

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S10

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S11

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S12

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S14

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S15

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S16

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S23

HOUSING ACT 1988 S13(2)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S13(3)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S13(7)

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S7(1)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S9(1)

HOUSING (TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION) ACT 1998 S6(1)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S9(2)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S11(1)

HOUSING ACT 1988 S13

HOUSING ACT 1988 S14

HOUSING ACT 1988 S9

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK V RYAN & LIMERICK CO COUNCIL UNREP BARRON 21.2.91 1991/6/1486

HOUSING ACT 1988 S11

CO MEATH VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COMMITTEE V JOYCE 1994 2 ILRM 211

WARD V SOUTH DUBLIN CO COUNCIL 1996 3 IR 195

HOUSING (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1992 S10

O'BRIEN & ORS V WICKLOW CO COUNCIL EX-TEMP UNREP COSTELLO 10.6.94

Synopsis:

HOUSING

Traveller accommodation

Judicial review - Local authority - Administrative law - Housing issues - Obligation of housing authority to provide suitable traveller accommodation - Housing Act, 1988, section 13 - Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998, sections 13, 16, 23 (1999/354 - Herbert J - 6/2/03)

O'Donoghue v Limerick Corporation - [2003] 4 IR 93

Facts: the applicants who were travellers sought various reliefs after they had been told by the respondent housing authority that no halting site accommodation was available within their administrative area other than that at the Cooperage, Limerick, but that standard local housing would be available. The applicants claimed that the site at the Cooperage was unsuitable and did not fulfil the duty imposed on the respondents by section 13 of the Act of 1988 to provide proper caravan sites for travellers and that they were entitled to be provided with suitable hating site accommodation notwithstanding the fact that a traveller's accommodation programme had not yet been implemented by the respondents.

Held by Herbert J in declaring that the respondents failed to discharge their statutory obligations to provide a site for the applicants' caravan that the functions of a housing authority under section 13 of the Act of 1988 must be performed in a reasonable manner and must involve the application of a coherent and fair system of allocating accommodation to persons who had been included in the assessment of needs under section 9 of the Act by the housing authority. As such, the applicants were entitled to priority to the provision of a caravan site within the respondent's administrative area. Section 13 of the Act of 1998 provides that the respondent's obligations to provide for housing needs, extends to the provision not of dwelling houses but of caravan sites in respect of travellers and section 23 of the Act of 1998 intended to make clear that the respondents were not inhibited from providing traveller accommodation by the fact that they had not yet adopted an accommodation programme.

1

Judgment of Mr. Justice Herbert delivered the 6th day of February, 2003.

THE FACTS
2

The Applicants in this case are husband and wife. They have four children who were aged from six to eleven years on the 9 thSeptember, 1999 the date of the Order of the High Court granting liberty to the Applicants to seek Judicial Review. It is not denied that the Applicants are Irish citizens and are both natives of the city of Limerick. It is not denied that the Applicants are "travellers" within the definition of Section 13 of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998, (number 33 of 1998), as, "persons who traditionally pursue or have pursued a nomadic way of life." Prior to the 9 th September, 1999 they had resided in England for fourteen years but returned to this country each summer remaining for a period of three months. On these occasions they resided at Carrigrohane Strait Halting Site in the city of Cork and at Rahebogue and elsewhere in the city of Limerick. On the 15 th November, 1998 they returned permanently to Ireland. Initially they resided at the Carrigrohane Strait Halting Site with Mr. James O'Donoghue and his family. Unfortunately this Halting Site was not sufficiently large to accommodate two families and the Applicants were obliged to seek alternative accommodation.

3

On the 20 th January, 1999 the Applicants came to Limerick city and parked their caravan at Athlunkard Street. In her Affidavit evidence Mrs. O'Donoghue stated that she believed that her husband had contacted a person she describes as Martina King an employee of the Respondents prior to the 27 th January, 1999 and was informed by this person that no Halting Sites were available in the city of Limerick. At the hearing of this application the Court was informed that the person referred to as Martina King was in fact a lady named Carmel King. It appears from the Affidavits of Jane O'Donoghue that on the 23 rd January, 1999 or on the 27 th January, 1999 a Detective Garda from Mary Street Garda station in the city of Limerick came to their caravan and informed them that they would have to move on.

4

In her Affidavit sworn on behalf of the Respondents on the 23 rd November, 1999 Carmel King, a social worker employed by the Respondents states that her first contact with the Applicants was on the 27 th January, 1999 after the matter had been drawn to her attention by John Leahy, an executive engineer in the housing Section of the Respondents. Both parties are agreed that Carmel King called on the Applicants on the 27 th January, 1999. Carmel King recalls that she arranged to meet Mr. Patrick O'Donoghue on the 28 thJanuary, 1999 at the City Hall whereas it is the recollection of Mrs. Jane O'Donoghue that she and her husband were both to meet Carmel King on that occasion. Mrs. O'Donoghue recalls that they were told by Carmel King on the 27 th January, 1999 that they would have to leave Athlunkard Street and that no Halting Sites were available in the city of Limerick where they could be accommodated. On the 27 thJanuary, 1999 the Applicants moved from Athlunkard Street to an unoccupied site nearby in Mary Street which was the property of the Respondents. The Applicants accept that they did not attend the meeting with Carmel King on the 28 th January, 1999. Mrs. O'Donoghue states that they felt that there was no point in going ahead with the meeting as they had already moved from the Athlunkard Street location and Carmel King had told them that there were no Halting Sites available in the city of Limerick.

5

On the 7 th February, 1999 the Applicants were served personally with a purported notice pursuant to Section 10 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992, dated the 5 th February, 1999, requiring them within twenty four hours to move to the Cooperage Halting Site, a site provided by the Respondents under Section 13 of the Housing Act, 1988, where they could be appropriately accommodated. On the 8 thFebruary, 1999 the Respondents pursuant to the provisions of Section 8 of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998gave notice of their intention to prepare a draft accommodation programme, for their functional area. This programme, as required by the provisions of Section 7 of the Act, of 1998, would specify the accommodation needs of travellers and the provision of accommodation required to address those needs. On the 10 th February, 1999 the Applicants claim that employees of the Respondents accompanied by two members of An Garda Siochana towed their caravan to the Cooperage Halting Site.

6

On the 10 th February, 1999 Nicola Tallon, a community development worker with the Limerick Traveller Development Group, visited the Cooperage Halting Site. In an Affidavit sworn by her on the 2 nd September, 1999 she states that she found this location to be without electricity, running water or toilets. She states that the location was surrounded on two sides by swamp land and on one side by a river. There were no walls or railings bounding this river. She states that she found the location dirty, litter strewn, totally neglected and in a very bad state of repair with clear indications that it was used by persons for "joyriding" and alcohol and drug abuse. In her opinion this location was altogether unfit and unsafe for use by a family, particularly a family with four young children. In addition, a sole right to use this location was being asserted by members of the McCarthy travelling family. Nicola Tallon states in her Affidavit sworn on the 13 th February, 2000 that she revisited this location on the 10 th January, 2000 and that no improvements of any sort had been effected. On the 10 th February, 1999 the Applicants moved their caravan back to the Mary Street site. At some stage they acquired and parked an additional caravan on this site as they claimed that they need two caravans to accommodate themselves and their four children. Carmel King states that she met the second named Applicant Patrick O'Donoghue on the 10 th February, 1999 at the request of Nicola Tallon. It is her recollection that Mr. Patrick O'Donoghue wished to...

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