This morning Patrick Carthy, from a well known Kilkenny traveller family came on air on the show to explain how he felt about objections to him being housed in the quiet rural townland of Bonnettstown in County Kilkenny. The Irish Daily Mail had published a story about a letter sent to constituents of Phil Hogan in the area, assuring them that Patrick and his family of seven would not be housed in the area.
Patrick explained how he felt and told The Sue Nunn Show listeners that he was concerned about a threatening letter he had received about his family living in the area. Patrick also told of his family circumstances. His parents had lived in a house in Bonnettstown many years back when Patrick was a young boy and yes there had been some issues. However they left and moved elsewhere nearly twenty years ago. Patrick’s mother Brigid died of cancer some six years ago and unable to cope with his grief, Patrick’s father killed him self almost three years ago.
You can hear my interview with Patrick on the highlights section of The Sue Nunn Show page on this site.
Patrick is 32 and he and his wife Brigid have seven children. The youngest, a twin has serious medical issues and it seems that for this reason, following an earlier decision not to house the family at Bonnettstown, the family were housed there by Kilkenny County Council. Not however before Minister for The Environment Phil Hogan had in response to representations sent a letter announcing that “the “McCarthy” Family will not be allocated the house in your area”. ” Councillor Billy Ireland and I are glad to be of assistance in this matter,” the letter says.
This morning we asked Phil Hogan to respond to the Dail Mail story and he agreed. We explained that Patrick would talk to us first and he agreed to listen to what Patrick had to say. You can listen to Phil Hogan’s response and the contribution of Former Mayor of Kilkenny and Green Party spokesperson Malcolm Noon and FF Cllr Andrew McGuinness on the “highlights” page.
You can make your own mind up about Minister Phil Hogan’s termination of the interview. I gather his spokesperson has told the Irish Independent that “the interview went on later than agreed.”
Listen back on “highlights.”
