Mr. Mike Allen:

We have had some interesting conversations with Traveller organisations, and Pavee Point in particular, about the work they are doing in this area. There is a real challenge here, in that Travellers have been recognised as an ethnic group and many Travellers have specific housing requirements in terms of Traveller-specific accommodation and broader needs and therefore, a need for a specialist group that can recognise that. On the other hand, there is the need to integrate it into the main housing system, both in the way local authorities are and the way mainstream homeless organisations need to be more reflective of Traveller needs. I do not think anybody is in favour of a new homeless organisation that specialises in homeless Travellers. There is a real challenge there of both integrating and having specialist skills. While I can see the need for the specialist organisation, to deliver it without actually marginalising the issue such that the mainstream no longer feels it has to be dealt with will be a really tricky question.

I do not have a direct answer to it but we need to be careful of going down that route without thinking of a need to integrate, while recognising that the demand for specialised housing organisation for Travellers does not come out of nowhere. It comes out of generations of frustration and it needs to be taken seriously but also in the broader context.