Many of the families evicted from a disused car park at Dundalk Retail Park this morning have moved to another illegal site up the road.

Gardaí informed families living on the site last night that they would be evicted today with around five caravans leaving at that stage to another illegal site.

That left around seven caravans on site this morning when Gardaí arrived on the scene, in front of KFC, at around 8.30am.

After a brief stand off that saw two men arrested for obstructing an eviction order, the last caravan was removed from the site at around 10.10am. At least three of the caravans were seized by Gardaí with a spokesperson for the families claiming that these people had now been left effectively homeless as a result.

However, it is understood that many of those who have left the site in the last 24 hours have now moved to another illegal site not far away.

The families have been occupying the disused car park in front of KFC since being evicted from the Woodland Park halting site in January.

The families said they were aware they were trespassing but had nowhere else to go.

While Louth County Council announced in March they plan to revamp Woodland Park, none of the traveller families know whether or not they will be accommodated here as yet. Work is expected to take around 10 months to complete with the site only able to accommodate 13 of the 23 families originally evicted.

Reacting to this morning’s evictions, Sinn Fein president and local TD Gerry Adams described the move as “disgraceful” and called on Louth County Council to open an emergency halting site to home the affected families.

He said: “These families were evicted from Woodland Park in January at the request of Louth County Council.

“It is unconscionable that Louth County Council has not accommodated these families in the intervening four months.

“This morning these families, including many children, are being forced to move again, having been given less that 24 hours notice.

“The upheaval on these citizens cannot be underestimated. Their treatment is unfair and unacceptable.

“I have written to Louth County Council and the new Environment Minister Simon Coveney to request their intervention to provide these families with an emergency halting site in Dundalk.

“There is a responsibility on the State, including local authorities, to provide traveller appropriate accommodation for traveller families.

“All locally elected representatives should support members of the Travelling Community to access suitable accommodation.”

Picture credit: Laura Fletcher (Twitter)