Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know Senator Kelleher's commitment to this. We have had a number of meetings on the subject and I know her commitment is genuine, so I will respond to her in that positive context. I also want the expert panel to be up and running. I have had a couple of meetings with the chair and members of the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee before Christmas and since in an effort to make that happen. I believe it is meeting today and I hope it will sign off on terms of reference today, and if not, at its next meeting. I have asked its members to do that. It is my advisory group. They are the people I want to sign off on the terms of reference. That is what they are there for. I cannot make them do it, but I know that they want to. Any issues have been sorted out and I expect that it will happen this week. All the members of the group are genuine and want the expert group to be set up. If it does not happen today, I believe it will happen during the month at its next meeting. I have made it clear that I want a report back as quickly as possible which is as much as I can do. After the members have been chosen and my Department has signed off on them, as it must do, my message to them will be to try to finish in three months. I do not see why it could not do that. A lot of good work has already been done with the agency report as well as other reports in recent years. Much evidence has been gathered, some of which Senator Kelleher quoted. There is plenty of information. We are looking for it to come back with recommendations on how to change this.

Senator Kelleher referred to the lack of trust. We are trying to change the system to build that trust back up and to earn it. I have also made it clear to all the stakeholders that there must be change and movement on all sides.

We must change the working relationship and decision-making process in some areas. As I stated, I met families living in the Spring Lane site, with which Senator Kelleher is also familiar, and made it clear to them that not all of the solutions they seek are feasible. I told them we had to find common ground and that there must be agreement to change. The families agreed to amend their position and more meetings with them are to be held. We must understand that there is no magic wand which will fulfil every desire but we can and must make a lot of progress. Some sites may not be able to accommodate all the families who wish to live there and we must accept that, move on and do something rather than do nothing. If we can strengthen the relationship and trust, we will be able to make progress and I wish to try to do so.

Many local authorities genuinely want to help on this issue, although some have not followed through on previous commitments. However, I acknowledge that previous Governments put money into this area when funding was available, which was probably in 2004 and 2005. I may not always compliment previous Fianna Fáil-led Governments but they allocated money to this issue and put plans in place for Traveller accommodation programmes, TAPs, that could deliver up to 10,000 units, which would deal with much of the demand that exists. Approximately 10,000 families have a specific Traveller accommodation need and those plans aimed to meet that need. They fell short and delivered fewer than 7,000 but the ambition was there. In some cases the money was allocated but the project did not proceed. We will change the system to ensure such plans are followed through. Communities should realise that previous Governments attempted to invest in this area when resources were available, as will this Government. We must ensure we get the resources. Even when the money was there, we sometimes did not get the desired results. Some brilliant projects came through the system, some of which I have visited and which are managed extremely well. They work much better when caretakers are involved, they are well maintained and all residents agree to a standard of maintenance. That goes down very well and helps to get projects accepted by local communities, which is an area on which we must also work. I have visited other projects that are of very poor standard. I visited sites in Galway on which the accommodation standard is deplorable and unacceptable in terms of current living standards.

Senator Kelleher asked if I accept the scale and urgency of the problem. I accept that there is a serious problem in certain areas and that major changes are needed in that regard. The report presents the demands that exist in each county. Some have done quite well but others have not. The scale and urgency of the problem is very pressing in some counties and less so in others. We must take action where it is needed and that is what we are trying to do. We will not hold back in terms of the urgency required to tackle this issue.