Ms Bridgie Casey:

To go back to mental health, my experience of working with Travellers and Cena is that when we talk to Travellers face to face about accommodation, we find that the most basic human right is a roof over your head. Without that, there is no start in life for anybody, whether that person is a Traveller or a settled person.

Mental health problems are a big issue in the Travelling community where the rate is seven times higher than in the settled community. I have documented, in the cases of a number of Travellers I have met in the last year, the environment they live in, whether it is a halting site that is very run down and has terrible conditions or a housing estate where their cultural needs have been taken away and they can no longer be a Traveller or practise their way of life and culture or even have the family support around them. That is a very big issue. It also has a big effect on children's education and well-being.

We are working with a number of local authorities on delivering Traveller-specific accommodation. We work daily with Travellers and we are talking to them. As Mr. Dillon explained, we are providing training. Travellers are being trained and are going out to work with the community. This is the way forward for finding some sort of solutions for Traveller accommodation. Sometimes Travellers were not given an option or choice on their accommodation or whether they wanted to live in a group housing scheme or halting site, although I hate that term. At a very early stage, Travellers were not part of any process in relation to accommodation or the issues that affect their lives. It was something that was always developed and then Travellers had to accept it. Cena will bring a lot to the table. We are not the answer to everything around accommodation but we can achieve in a way with our community, especially working with other housing bodies, local authorities and other statutory organisations. We cannot do it on our own, however. We have to work together as a team with other agencies.