Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

Many of the areas have already been covered. I was listening closely and I know things have improved. I have linked in with the community at St. Margaret's Traveller site in Ballymun where the community is caught in behind high walls and have super depots being built around them while the conditions they live in remain absolutely dire. Only for the community on site, it would be a lot worse because they are very proactive in trying to deal with the issues. They were seeking to have mobile homes replaced because the ones they have are so old. They are still waiting for that. In the meantime, they were hoping that small cottage-type homes would be built in the community. Over the years, there has been a breakdown in trust between the council and all the halting sites. Trust needs to be beefed up and the Traveller community has to see the powers-that-be moving very seriously on these issues now. Overcrowding on those sites is still a big issue and the conditions with sanitary conditions and access to water. I would hope that the council, the Department and the Government really respond to the needs of the Traveller community, particularly when they are very positive about wanting to work with the local authorities after all the years of their needs being left in abeyance. There has to be urgency around the replacement of those mobile homes - all of them - and a plan for the building of homes on the site for the community. There is the same situation in Labre Park where Cena had to move in to try to negotiate to get the build there. I know things are in place now, and at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Travelling Community, one speaker said that it took a long time to get to the bad state that we are in and it will take a while to get us out of that, but when the Traveller communities link in with the authorities, they should be responded to very positively. There should be no problem with money for replacing mobile homes. I cannot see what the delay could be on those. I am sure that is also happening on other sites, although I have not been in contact with them.