The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (‘the Commission’) has welcomed today’s significant Supreme Court ruling in the case of the eviction of a Traveller family in Co. Clare (McDonagh v Clare County Council).
The Court has upheld the family’s appeal against their eviction, with five Supreme Court justices ruling unanimously in favour of the McDonagh family. The case focused on their unauthorised presence on a Clare Council-owned site, having not been provided with appropriate accommodation by the Council elsewhere.
Central to this appeal was the Supreme Court’s examination of whether a local authority was obliged to consider the impact of eviction on persons such as the applicants and their prospects for obtaining lawful accommodation elsewhere, as well as the Council’s own interests, powers and obligations both as landowner and as housing and planning authority.
Today’s ruling sets out that it is ultimately for a Council to convince the courts in any future cases that they have fulfilled their obligations, and for the Courts to assess the proportionality of the Council’s actions.
In its legal role as amicus curiae (‘friend of the court’) the Commission argued that Clare County Council failed in its statutory obligations to properly and proportionately assess the rights of a Traveller family before invoking planning laws to evict them from a site in the county.
Mr. Justice Hogan set out that if an injunction allowing the eviction to occur was not lifted, the McDonaghs would have nowhere else to go without necessarily trespassing on someone else’s lands.
Mr Justice Hogan set out “This judgment is being delivered just over 100 years since the first Provisional Government for an independent Irish State was called into being. It is nonetheless salutary to reflect that one hundred years later a distinct group – the Irish Traveller community – still remains a vulnerable minority at the margins of Irish society. The members of that community have struggled for recognition of their own cultural identity and way of life.”
The McDonagh family are seeking Traveller-specific accommodation, which is their right as a recognised ethnic minority. They resided for several years as tenants of the Council in a small Traveller-specific housing development. After the destruction of their home by fire they then lived in private housing for several years, but had to leave rented accommodation when the landlord required possession for the purpose of refurbishment. They subsequently moved to the Council owned vacant site that is the subject of this case.
Over the past number of years, the Commission has been working hard on the rights of Travellers to culturally appropriate accommodation. It has used its legal powers to carry out Equality Reviews with every local authority in the State on the provision of Traveller-specific accommodation, and is involved in another similar case which is currently before the European Court of Human Rights (Faulkner v. Ireland).
Sinéad Gibney, Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission stated:
“This ruling sets out that it is not enough for a Local Authority to evict Traveller families from public land without any thought of their accommodation needs and requirements.
“The Supreme Court is clear that the Local Authority is the housing body, and it has an obligation to offer suitable accommodation. This obligation must be fulfilled rather than side-stepped.
“Councils across the country are failing to properly and appropriately address Traveller accommodation. People are being left to live in conditions which ultimately damage their health, their children’s health, impact their access to education, employment and their quality of life. This has to stop.”
ENDS/
For further information, please contact:
Brian Dawson, IHREC Communications Manager,
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Editor’s Note
The legal submissions made to the Court by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in this case are available at the following link:
https://www.ihrec.ie/documents/bernard-mcdonagh-and-helen-mcdonagh-v-clare-county-council/
The amicus curiae function of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.
The Commission’s functions under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 include that of applying for liberty to appear as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) before the superior courts in proceedings that involve, or are concerned with, the human rights or equality rights of any person.
Section 10 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act sets out the functions of the Commission and Section 10(2)(e) provides that the IHREC shall have a function:
“to apply to the High Court or the Supreme Court for liberty to appear before the High Court or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, as amicus curiae in proceedings before that Court that involve or are concerned with the human rights or equality rights of any person and to appear as such an amicus curiae on foot of such liberty being granted (which liberty each of the said courts is hereby empowered to grant in its absolute discretion).”
Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is an independent public body, appointed by the President and directly accountable to the Oireachtas. The Commission has a statutory remit set out under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014) to protect and promote human rights and equality in Ireland, and build a culture of respect for human rights, equality and intercultural understanding in the State.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is Ireland’s national human rights institution and is recognised as such by the United Nations. The Commission is also Ireland’s national equality body for the purpose of a range of EU anti-discrimination measures.