Professor Michelle Norris:

It is very difficult to get to the bottom of the matter. I do not wish to imply that there should be a cut in spending on the refurbishment of Traveller-specific accommodation, but it is critical that funding be made available for new supply.

The other point made by Deputy Casey was related to the allocation of funding to local authorities and whether it reflected the size of the local Traveller population. To my knowledge, it does not. It reflects what local authorities state they need in the Traveller accommodation plan. The allocation they receive more or less matches what they have requested.

Also in the report we look at the differences in drawdown by local authorities. The breakdown is to be found in table 5.4. In table 3.2 we look at the growth in the Traveller population countrywide. The population is growing and Travellers are also splitting in more separate households, just like the settled population, which means that the need for housing is growing. If we compare the problems in drawing down funding to the increase in population, I have mentioned a number of local authorities where it is problematic, where their record is not strong and the Traveller population is growing. They include Dublin City Council, Longford County Council, Cork City Council and Cork County Council. In all of these areas the Traveller population is growing substantially, while the drawdown of the budget allocated is weak. There are some others areas where the Traveller population is falling and the local authorities concerned are drawing down 100% of their allocation.