Traveller family lands swanky new £400k council house after being moved from site next to Dublin Airport to make way for runway

THIS is the swanky new home a Traveller family has landed after being moved from a site beside Dublin Airport to allow for the development of a new runway.

Up to 14 families who have been living at the council-run halting site since 1988 are being shifted as it lies in the path of the planned strip.

Plans by the local authority to relocate the group of Travellers have been plagued by turbulence with a proposed new site, located a few kilometres northwest of the airport, grounded by a court last month.

Many of the Travellers remain on the Collinstown beside the airport as Fingal County ­Council struggles to relocate them, with residents telling us negotiations were still “up in the air”.

But today the Irish Sun can reveal one of the families has received lift-off after council chiefs provided them with a plush pad.

Jason Maughan and his clan have recently moved into Ashfield, the final phase of the award- ­winning Ridgewood development in Swords, north .

Properties in Ashfield cost up to €464,000 (£410,000) with developers boasting if “high quality craftsmanship and an attention to detail”.

Speaking to our reporter at their new house, Maughan told how they were the first of the extended family to move to Ashfield, a short distance from their halting site.

He said: “As far as I am aware we’re the only ones here (who have moved to Ashfield).”

The Travellers are being moved from a site at Collinstown Park.

Reports say some of the halting site residents wanted from €100,000 (£88,000) to €800,000 (£707,000) each to move.

But Maughan insisted these claims were plane wrong, telling the Irish Sun: “There is no Bentley out there!”

Adverts for Ashfield reveal pads in the development are priced between €410,000 (£362,000)  and €464,000 (£410,000).

Some locals who have forked out to live there have expressed reservations about FCC providing pads for the .

One told us: “Because they are coming, we got a letter saying they are moving here. The houses here are expensive, it is shocking for everybody after buying.”

Local politicians insisted there will be no “large-scale relocation” from the halting site to Ashfield.

Cllr Anne Devitt told the Irish Sun: “The Traveller families have to be moved from the halting site, Dublin Airport Authority need the land for the runway development.

“I know some of the families have been housed and others still need to be accommodated. There is a preference for them to be housed rather than a halting site, for health and safety reasons.

“I have been told they (the Maughans) have settled in.”

The Fine Gael rep added: “The families want to stay close to the airport area for schools, etc.

“Only a small percentage of housing in the development is allocated for social housing.”

The Travellers have been living at the Collinstown site since 1988 — after it was leased by the local authority from Aer Rianta, the forerunner to DAA. The original lease agreement ended in 2007, when DAA obtained planning permission to construct a new runway.

The DAA provides a rolling year-to-year lease, but has asked FCC to ensure the lands are vacated.

Last month, the High Court quashed FCC’s decision to grant planning permission for the site at Coolquay, a few kilometres northwest of the airport. It was planned to provide accommodation for the extended family, who are living at a site lying in the exclusion zone for the new runway.

Up to 14 families have been living in the council-run Collinstown site. After negotiations, they agreed to move to the proposed seven-bay site at Coolquay.

Environmental and planning company Coolquay St Margaret’s The Ward Development DAC had challenged FCC’s decision to approve the project — on grounds including that there was no provision for Traveller accommodation in areas zoned as rural.

At the High Court, lawyers for FCC accepted an environmental impact assessment should have been carried out.

The council also accepted that an EU directive emphasised the importance of environmental screening, which was recognised in regulations transposed into Irish law in September.

It said it would reconsider all options but remained committed to relocating the families.

Residents in the Coolquay area had mounted a campaign against the halting site, claiming it was a highly unsuitable location for the scheme as it had suffered flooding a number of times in the past 15 years.

More than 600 submissions were made about the development.

Council planners revised a scheme to raise the ground level to prevent flooding.

Meanwhile, substantive preparatory works for the new runway at Dublin Airport are still scheduled to start in January.

But Maughan told the Irish Sun how the majority of the Traveller families remain on the halting site beside Dublin Airport, with FCC chiefs failing to resolve the situation. He said: “I’m not sure what they’re doing, they probably tried to get a different site again. They’re still up in the thing (at the halting site). Someone else got a house there, it would be in Swords village, a cottage.

“Everyone is still up there (at the halting site), literally everyone.”

A resident at Collinstown confirmed the situation for many of the residents remained unresolved.

In a statement to the Irish Sun, FCC said: “We cannot comment on individual cases but social housing stock is allocated in accordance with the Allocations Scheme for Social Housing Support.

“FCC is considering all options and remains committed to relocating the Collinstown residents. As this process is ongoing, details of alternative locations and costings have not yet been agreed.”