The situation first arose two years ago when a caravan was delivered onto the estate’s communal green area.
A stand-off in a housing estate in Cork, which reached its fifth day on Tuesday, has led to court proceedings following a long-standing battle between residents and owners of a mobile home.
The stand-off began on Friday, when estate residents protested the arrival of a mobile home onto their communal green area via a truck on Thursday evening.
According to locals, this isn’t the first instance of unwanted vehicles being left in the vicinity against the will of residents.
A small caravan had also been residing in the same area for the past two years. Legal proceedings began some months ago to get the caravan removed, but to no avail. The bigger mobile home was then introduced to the housing estate last week, which caused tensions to grow amongst residents.
It is understood that the mobile home is owned by members of the travelling community.
The estate residents attempted to reclaim the communal area over the weekend as they believe it should be for the use of estate residents only.
Residents say they will continue their stand off until the truck that brought in the mobile home leaves with the mobile home on the back.
They have, in recent days, attempted to get Gardaí involved in the issue, but as the mobile home is situated on the green belonging to Cork County Council, Gardaí cannot force anyone to move it until the council issues a court order to do so.
Meetings have taken place over the last few days between Cork County Council and local councillors to deal with the issue.
Local residents spoke to Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today Show on Tuesday about the recent court proceedings that have started in Cork City to remove the mobile home from the estate in Fermoy.
C103 Senior reporter Fiona Corcoran also spoke with Emma O’Driscoll, the woman who, along with her partner, is living in said caravan.
“I’ve been living in that caravan for two years with two children,” she began.
“If you go out and look at it, the windows there are sellotaped. The drafts are unreal. I rang the council to tell them my situation – I’ve been very patient with them for two years straight. I sent the council photographs and they said there’s nothing they can do.
“I asked them for emergency accommodation, a hotel, anything. A one-bedroom apartment we’d take at this stage, they wouldn’t give me anything. This went on for just over two years. I told the council within the last couple of months, if I had to stay there any longer, and this child came along, cause I was pregnant, I’d have to put the mobile home down there.
“And the word the council told me, was there’s nothing they could do about it. Go ahead, that’s what they said. They never gave me permission, but said they can’t stop me.”
JOE spoke to Cork County Council about the issue who said they had no comment at this time.
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