Ms Mary Brigid McCann:

In the area where I live and work I have huge contact with the Traveller community, and also I am a Traveller myself. We visit a lot of Traveller families in the area. Even in 2008 and before the recession came in, accommodation was always a problem within the Travelling community. People were coming to us looking for help and we did not have the power to repair or do anything for them. All we could do was report for them. Given the budgets in recent years and all the cuts, the situation is worse now.

The cut in rent allowance for those under 25 has a huge impact on Travellers, given that they marry much younger. That is not to say that people from the settled population do not go out and live and start families. There is overcrowding where I live myself. As Ms Fay outlined, Travellers are moving into private rented accommodation but they are not able to afford the rent. Landlords are putting up the rent. There is the isolation of Travellers in private rented and the discrimination that they face. They are being bullied and their children are not being allowed play with other children in the area. All that has a huge impact on Travellers' mental health as well.

The underspend in some local authorities is also a problem. Travellers would have been one of the groups that did not benefit from the Celtic tiger when Ireland was awash with money. Then in recent budgets, with all the cuts that have been imposed on us, we were the people who were made suffer, along with many others as well.

In my area we have 50 houses but we have about 60 families, so overcrowding is a problem. Playgrounds are a huge problem as well. We do not have any playgrounds or any stuff like that. There is not enough Traveller-specific accommodation getting built. We are working with an extended family at the minute and they were looking for a group housing scheme but their needs have not been met. They are being kind of let into a housing estate. They are being phased in, with four or five doors left in between each of their houses. I do not think that is very fair to them if they want to live as an extended family. They are Travellers and their culture has to be respected as well. There is also a temporary site in our area that is well over 25 years there.

We did a mapping exercise a couple of weeks ago around the Carrickmines incident. Overcrowding was a problem, with electric wires just running everywhere and taking over, and there was overloading of sockets as well. People are coming to us looking for support but we are limited in what we can do. We have many Departments and every single one of them has a responsibility to all the people in Ireland but also to the Travelling community. When I look at a Traveller accommodation, in my experience that responsibility has not been met.

Another thing we face in our area is that, when young married couples come out of private rented and move into a caravan at the back of some of our houses, they are being charged €20 rent based on income. Even though it is a separate family with a separate income and a separate home, the income is assessed. We are charged €20 even though the young married couple might not have any facilities, water, or electrics.

At a recent meeting, a person told me that a tenant is given the right to reside in a property and the supply of water and electricity is not his or her concern. The younger generation feel very disappointed that they are being charged for something but are not getting anything in return.