Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Collins for her questions and acknowledge the work that she is doing on the ground with the Traveller community. On Labre Park, we engaged directly with the community as did the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. One of the first things I did when I got responsibility for Traveller accommodation in November was write to Senator Eileen Flynn to try to forge relationships and get a greater understanding from a policy maker's side of what we need to do to respond to these challenges. Deputy Collins mentioned the positivity of the Traveller community. As I have gone around the country and met members of the Traveller community, they have been hugely positive, full of ideas on how to resolve and rebuild the trust within State institutions which we so badly need. I mentioned Carrickmines and there is also the Ombudsman for Children's Office, OCO, report. These are conditions that no State institution should stand over and we really need to work so hard to address them. I want us to be judged on our actions.

The pilot caravan loan scheme has had 47 applications in south Dublin. I think the number is slightly lower for Dublin city where there have been 15 or 16 applications. It is also pretty high in Cork. The funding will not be a barrier for the scheme. There are some issues that we are trying to resolve around insurance cost through the pilot and we hope to be able to launch a more robust scheme next year. That is reflected in the increase in the budget. There is also the remedial works. We carried out 250 audits around the State. We increased funding for the upkeep of Traveller bays by 50%. There was 75% for the funding for the caretaker roles. These demonstrate our commitment to trying to resolve this issue. I have leaned on the chief executives around the country and as recently as the past two weeks wrote another very strong letter on their responsibility to spend all the money that is there and reminding them that there is money there in the Department that we want to see spent. We do not want any carryover. It will really frustrate me if there is a carryover under this heading because we want to get all the money spent as we continue to increase the capital budget which is €18 million in 2022. The commitment is there but we need everyone working together. I really value the relationship that I have with Traveller representatives. I have been in many of their homes and their hearts are in the right place. It encourages me to work much harder to try to resolve the issues that are in the 32-recommendation report from the expert panel.