Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the guests. It is exciting to hear about Cena and the work it has been doing. It will change the face of Traveller accommodation, not only the work Cena is doing to develop housing but also its knock-on effect on other people and agencies who will see that this is how it can and should be done.

I am struck by a couple of issues. We talk about horses quite a lot and I feel it is a code word for racism and discrimination. In my short time on Galway City Council, that was my experience. It is used to avoid Travellers having their cultural identity acknowledged.

That brings me to the issue that Cena is not only providing housing but an environment around it. In putting in place supports for animal care around its housing, is Cena finding that there is kickback from other communities adjoining it? That is obviously not right but I would like to know if it is happening so that it can be addressed.

Is Cena getting funding and support for all of the other work it does over and above what other AHBs do, for example, providing apprenticeships? It is clear that is also putting in place mental health supports because all those it deals with come from a background where they will know people who have health issues or something in their family. What kind of supports, financial and otherwise, is it getting?

Ms Fitzgerald referred to preventing people from becoming homeless. I was on a public participation network, PPN, in the housing committee for a couple of years before becoming a councillor and that was a big issue for us. The Simon Communities were also represented on that committee. Homelessness was ramping up at the time and has become even more extreme, with couch-surfing and so on. What is Cena doing in concrete terms to address that issue? It covers many hidden homeless people who are inaccessible to local authorities unless they are on the ground?