A local authority hit back at a damning report by the Ombudsman for Children which said the rights of Traveller children were being violated at an accommodation site in their area.
Cork City Council said matters were “nowhere near as simple as outlined” in a lengthy finding-by-finding rebuttal, which they submitted to the Department of Housing.
It also said the report on the Spring Lane site did not show a “complete understanding or appreciation of the complex problems and deep-rooted socio-economic issues” involved at the site.
The report by the Ombudsman for Children had detailed failure after failure to improve living conditions with children left in filthy, overcrowded, rat-infested, cold and damp living conditions.
However, a six-page letter sent to Minister Peter Burke by the council said that while an external observer view was useful, that they had great difficulty in accepting a number of its findings.