Mr Martin Collins This is Me

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1. 1. dublinpeople.com

   dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/1/2007   Last Visited: 12/1/2007

   Martin Collins had lived with his family on Britain Quay for the last 17 years until he was forced to move to Pigeon House Road two months' ago.Dublin City Council served an enforcement order on Mr Collins last week directing him to move on from Pigeon House Road."I felt very bad about moving out of where we were [Britain Quay] because everything there was so handy to us," Mr Collins said."I am a well known man there.They gave me a court order last week and they are trying to move me out of there."Martin Collins (no relation), who is assistant director of Travellers' rights group Pavee Point, said the failure of the city council and the DDDA to provide the families with permanent Traveller specific accommodation in the area where they had lived for over 20 years was "discriminatory"."In my opinion those families are indigenous to that whole general area," he said."I think there is an onus on the city council to have Traveller accommodation integrated into whatever new development takes place."He added: "The most annoying and irritating part of it is that people were prepared to tolerate Travellers in the area before it was developed and now because it is being upgraded Travellers are no longer welcome."Mr Collins called on the city council and the DDDA to integrate Travellers into development plans for the docklands.A spokeswoman for the DDDA rejected the claims that they had not facilitated Travellers in the area claiming that consultation with the families, in partnership with Dublin City Council, had been ongoing for the last two years. "Two members of the families have been housed by Dublin City Council - one in Dún Laoghaire and one in the docklands area," she said."Two other members of the family are on a high priority list for housing in the docklands area and will be housed in the near future."Other members of the family who lived in Britain Quay were not prepared to accept settled accommodation; therefore alternative accommodation is proactively being sourced by the Dublin City Council welfare and Traveller section in partnership with the docklands authority for these families."In conjunction with this initiative, Dublin City Council in partnership with the Dublin Dockland's Development Authority has recently built six purpose dedicated bungalows in Poolbeg where many families are currently housed," she added.

2. 2. Independent Media Center | www.indymedia.org | ((( i )))

   www.indymedia.org/en/2006/12/8 - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/23/2006   Last Visited: 1/18/2007

   -Martin Collins, Pavee Point
   ...
   We are angry and we have every right to be," said Martin Collins, of the Travellers' rights group, Pavee Point.

3. 3. www.examiner.ie

   www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/15/2006   Last Visited: 12/15/2006

   "The outcome of this case sends out a strong signal to the Traveller community, that a Traveller life is worthless compared with the life of a settled person," Travellers' spokesman Martin Collins of Pavee Point said after the jury found the farmer not guilty of the manslaughter of traveller John "Frog" Ward.
   ...
   "My initial reaction is one of disbelief followed by horror and disgust that a man has walked free from the courts after admitting to the horrific killing of another man," Mr Collins said.
   
   Mr Collins said he would take no pleasure in seeing the 62-year-old farmer going to jail, but "the killing of a man in the most gory and vile way imaginable" had gone unpunished.
   
   The Travellers' spokesman also took issue with the media coverage of the case, which he said was negatively slanted against Travellers.
   
   "There were times when it looked as if the Traveller community was on trial with the odds stacked against us," Mr Collins said.
   
   "By his own admission in court, Mr Nally had admitted shooting John Ward and then beating the man with a plank more than 20 times.He callously said it was like beating a badger.He then reloaded his shotgun, by his own admission, and shot Mr Ward in the back as he attempted to flee.He then, by his own admission in court, tried to dump the body.
   
   "It's hard to believe the accused could have given this evidence in court and was allowed to walk away a free man," Mr Collins said.