Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dr. Muldoon and Ms Ward to the committee today. The ombudsman's report is a milestone from the point of view of where we are at in terms of Traveller accommodation. These reports have been coming out for years. We have had health and safety reports on that site, going back to 2011, in which the environmental officer said it was not fit for human habitation.

We cannot let this moment go, from the point of view of where the OCO established the scenario in all its difficulties, from the local authority to councillors and to society in general. Some ten years ago, in Cork County Council, the local authority brought a proposal to extend the bays there but the councillors did not support that. In many ways, that came from pressure from the community not to expand the bay there. The witnesses' information to the committee will be important in respect of how we proceed in terms of Traveller accommodation.

Should section 24 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002, which prohibits nomadism, be repealed? Is the ombudsman suggesting it should be repealed and if that is the case, how should it be done? The provision of the network of transient halting sites in each local authority area is exempted under the Planning and Development Act 2000. Is that part of the witnesses' recommendation or are they focusing on this site and other sites?

The amendment to Part 8 in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 has to be amended to prevent political interference with Traveller-specific developments. That is crucial. I listened closely when Dr. Muldoon said he had called for the leaders to instruct or put a whip on their councillors to say they had to support Traveller accommodation.

I am also interested in the OCO's meeting with local authority staff, which is hoped to be a target for July. That will be important in moving along. I was on Dublin City Council from 2004 and without casting aspersions on any individual, it was difficult to get the Traveller accommodation unit there to do the work one wanted it to do. We have a site in Dublin South Central's Labre Park. Planning for the site started off approximately five years ago and barrier upon barrier has been erected continuously to prevent that site from being developed. Clúid had the authority to build on the site and put plans forward.

I welcome this report and it could be a game changer from the point of view of making a start, because one is talking about a site which only accommodated ten families and now has up to 40 families. Where were those people supposed to go, if they were not getting accommodation anywhere else? The only option they had was to stay on the site or live on the side of the road and then there would have been ructions about that as well, from the point of view of society.

The key thing is it came from the Ombudsman for Children, in terms of the conditions in which children were living on the site. I hope we, as a committee, can represent Dr. Muldoon's report and try to develop that as a national strategy with regard to housing.

Would the ombudsman support the setting up of a national Traveller accommodation authority to implement the recommendations of the Traveller accommodation expert group? It will be important the Traveller community is part of that authority, to proceed with sites all over the country. We are only talking about a small part of the population. Surely, if we can develop, through the local authorities, good, well-run and well-looked after bays, people would accept those as part of our communities.