File 12 - Rosella McDonald v Dublin County Council

270pp, 5 photographs

Folder labelled “Rosella McDonald v Dublin County Council” consisting of material relating to case where an Irish Traveller family were asked to move off land owned by Dublin City Council (DCC) following complaints from locals. Mary Robinson (MR) who was Senior Counsel on case argued that DCC were not just private landlords but also the Housing Authority for the area. The family had been on the land for approximately 15 months and the children had become integrated in local schools. The case questioned whether a local authority should be allowed to remove an itinerant family living in a caravan even if the family is improving the lot of their children with positive initiatives, without first offering any alternative housing or accommodation. Case went to Supreme Court and possibly European Court of Human Rights (unclear from incomplete file).

Material includes copies of High Court order, 16/05/1980; copies of affidavits of Rosella McDonald, Bernie Malone (DCC councillor), Sister Mary Martina Barry (schoolteacher), Noirin Bean Ui Chasaide [Nóirín Bean Uí Chasaide] (schoolteacher), Celsus Maher (schoolteacher), Mary Corless (preschool teacher), Elizabeth O'Donoghue (Medical Social Worker, St. Ultan's Infant Hospital), Thomas O'Brien (Health Inspector), Brendan O'Donnell (Medical Officer), Charles Brohoon (Senior Executive Officer, Development and Environment Department, DCC), James William Byrne (Senior Administrative Officer, Development and Environment Department, DCC), Donal O'Brien ("Acting Coordinator of Itinerant settlements in Dublin Corporation"), May-June 1980; Statement of Claim, Bryan F Curtin, solicitor, 06/06/1980; photocopy of extract relating to Scheme of Priorities For Letting Housing Accommodation (Section 60, Housing Act, 1966); transcript of arguments presented to Justice [Donal] Barrington, at interlocutory hearing at High Court, 23/06/1980; photocopy of extract from Ordnance Survey map of halting site; copy of minutes of meeting of South County District Committee, DCC, 21/05/1980, stamped by Community Care and Welfare Services 16/06/1980; photocopy of progress report of DCC, Dun Laoghaire Boro Corporation and Dublin Corporation to chairman and members of the Joint Committee for the Settlement of the Travelling People, 28/04/1980 and copy of report of meeting help by said committee 30/04/1980; 5 colour photographs of the halting site and conditions there referred to in affidavit of James William Byrne, and entered into court as Exhibit A, 04/06/1980 (photos taken by Tony O'Malley Pictures Ltd, Harolds Cross, Dublin 12); copy of plenary summons, n.d. (draft?); photocopy of notice of appeal 09/07/1980; photocopy of registrar's transcription of Supreme Court order 23/07/1980; cuttings 17/05-24/07/1980; handwritten case notes; postcards with stamps removed from Rosella McDonald to MR from Strasbourg [May 1981?]; photocopy of address by Sylvester Barrett, T.D., Minister for Environment to annual conference of the National Council for Travelling People, Bray, County Wicklow, 03/05/1980; draft statement of claims; correspondence between Bryan F Curtin, solicitor and MR, 06/06-17/01/1983 including in relation to fees; correspondence from Justice Donal Barrington to MR, 07/1980; correspondence from M Ennis, Social Worker, Eastern Health Board 17/07/1980.

[Archivist’s note: sensitivity warning - language used in newspaper cuttings no longer considered appropriate].

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