Ms Roslyn Molloy:

The Deputy's first point on the type of accommodation, in terms of whether it is Traveller-specific or general standard accommodation, was answered by Ms Hennigan. People will want a roof over their heads, but one of the issues that has been very clear from the reports and review of the expert group is the lack of evidence and the differing parties, whether it is social workers in local authorities versus Travellers and local authority workers. People have different ideas on Travellers' preferences.

There is progress and the administrative datasets that are collecting this information will provide the means to identify those families that identify as Travellers and have a preference for Traveller-specific accommodation as well as those who may have a preference for standard social housing. They can list their preferences. The expert group felt some of the submissions pointed to the fact that in areas where there may be a view that there is no chance of accessing Traveller-specific accommodation, therefore, Travellers will opt to put down as their number one preference standard social housing.

That potentially blurs what people are looking for. We need to clarify that and make application forms much clearer so that local authorities have a standardised way of collecting that information. That would be a big step forward in understanding what needs to be planned into the future.