Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community

Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are two issues that arise in the context of housing. One concerns those who want specific Traveller accommodation and, then, there are many people who want accommodation and will take whatever is going. What we obviously do not know is how many would opt for specific accommodation, if it was available, and how many would opt for standard housing. Would Mr. O'Connor accept that the number of people in homelessness from the Traveller community is a fair indication of the crisis in regard to Travellers getting accommodation, whether it is HAP accommodation, local authority accommodation, Traveller-specific accommodation or other accommodation? Would he accept that is a fair measure of the challenge?

I understand that 50% of the people who are homeless in Galway city, not the county, are from the Travelling community. It certainly would be my personal experience, from dealing with them every week in the most pitiful of situations, that this is true. These are people who cannot get HAP properties because of prejudice and there is also the big issue of the top-ups. If people are on basic social welfare, the HAP limits are totally ridiculous in the context of rents in Galway city. Even if people could get properties there, the rent is so outrageous that they cannot afford the top-up.

That means HAP accommodation is a much more expensive proposition than, for example, local authority housing or voluntary association housing. Would the witnesses agree that what we are seeing in the official figures is just the tip of the iceberg?

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