Dr. Mary Favier:

Yes. We spend substantial time chasing and renewing them. There are disproportionate effects and the effect on accommodation is highly pertinent because it brings significant health risks. Some 80% of Travellers live in non-winter-proofed accommodation, leading to more condensation and respiratory illnesses. It also contributes to the infant mortality rate and to later presentations with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Travellers in such accommodation live in fuel poverty and spend disproportionate amounts trying to heat inappropriate accommodation, which has a knock-on effect on presentations to general practice. Unless we address these systemic and ingrained problems, everything will have a knock-on effect and this always means the most vulnerable in society, of which Travellers are part, are disproportionately affected.