A temporary facility for Strabane's Travelling Community has become so over run with rats that families are living in fear for their health, it has emerged.
The halting site at Greenbrae Park is run by the Housing Executive and currently provides accommodation for eight families.
Recently however, the Strabane Chronicle was contacted following reports that rats had been spotted running free at the site.
Last week, reporter Conor Sharkey accompanied a Traveller Support officer to the site where he met Anne Ward, who currently resides at Greenbrae in a caravan with her eight children.
Ms Ward highlighted a number of shortcomings in the facilities provided for Travellers, including that only two wheelie bins are available for the entire site.
Most worryingly for the Ward family however is that vermin have been spotted in the vicinity of her van over the past couple of months.
This, she said, has left her extremely concerned for the welfare of her young children.
"When we arrived here, there was piles of rubbish but we managed to clear it ourselves. The men took about 150 bin bags away shortly after we arrived.
"We are getting no help down here at all. We are in bad need of a skip because we only get two wheelie bins and it's nowhere near enough for the amount of people who stay here.
"In Bundoran, we had several skips and it was brilliant.
"As for the rats, we see them all the time and it is very worrying, especially with the young children.
"It would be great to meet with whoever runs this site so we can point out what we need because it's very difficult here and we spend most of our time watching the kids in case they come into contact with vermin," Ms Ward explained.
The Traveller Support worker said it was high time that society started treating the Travelling Community with the same respect afforded to other members of the community.
"The average life expectancy for a Traveller man is 50 and for a woman it is 55. This is largely down to the way society treats them and the conditions they are forced to endure.
"People need to realise that the Travelling Community is not looking for special treatment, they just want the same basic human rights as everyone else.
"We have a strong support network in place, including a community centre, in place in Derry and after hearing from the Ward family today, I'm in no doubt that similar mechanisms need put in place in Strabane as a matter of urgency.
"The difference between the North and South of Ireland is that here we have the Race Relations Order 1997, which names Travellers as one of the most marginalised groups in Ireland.
"So they move to the North because they feel they will be protected and provided for under that order, but all too often they find that conditions in Northern Ireland are worse than in the Republic and that needs to be addressed.
"It is unacceptable that these families are being left to live in rat infestation and I would be very keen to sit down with the authorities to discuss what can be done here at Greenbrae," he said.
A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said they were in the process of speaking with the Travelling Community about removing any remaining rubbish from the area and that the District Manager would be willing to meet to discuss any further issues regarding Greenbrae.
Similarly, a spokesperson for Strabane District Council said they was not aware of any reports of rats at the site but they would treat any future complaints seriously.
