Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his attendance. We have all seen the different sites and we will see more. We have been around for many years dealing with Travellers' issues. However, not very much seems to have changed. The standard at sites depends on the different local authorities. The lack of spending by the local authorities has been well highlighted. What actions is the Minister taking against some of these local authorities? There is no doubt that, apart from the prejudice he mentioned in the ordinary community, there is an awful lot of prejudice in the local authorities. I found a very big resistance over the years in certain cases. Does the Minister have ideas or penalties to deal with this or do we have any actions that would put them on the spot?

The ombudsman's report was very damning in regards to Cork. That has obviously kicked them a bit. It is very strange that in the whole of Cork, whether it in Cork county or city, there is not one horse project. While I am not saying that is the be all and end all, many young Traveller kids are involved in horse projects. They are blaming each other as to why there is no horse project in that one blames the county while the other blames the city. This has to be dealt with and we cannot allow people to make excuses.

In many cases, we go to Part 8 provisions to look for things to be done. Are we pushing the managers to use the executive powers they have if things are not being dealt with? There seems to be and has been for a long time a reluctance to do that. What is the Minister's position on that?

My area has many schools in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, scheme. From what was said, there is more money coming into the DEIS schools, and that the scheme will be expanded a bit, which is very welcome. I would like to see what is intended in that regard. Special education and other supports are provided for people who attend DEIS schools. Breakfast clubs and homework clubs are very important in many cases and I would like to see a bit more put into them. I have seen many times young children coming to school without having eaten breakfast. They do not have anything but are going in and are expected to take part in school. I would like to make sure that does not happen; it should not happen.

The Minister mentioned the Dormant Accounts Fund, and I believe a figure of €500,000 was mentioned. I am not sure what that would do in practical terms. Perhaps we need to look at expanding this and the Minister mentioned that he might be thinking of doing so. What would that give us? From an educational point of view, we need to look at putting as much money as we possibly can into improving services. Whether children have to make their way to school or otherwise, we need to do that.

The accommodation, obviously, is a major factor. It varies so much. We saw really bad accommodation in Cork. We also saw it in Labre Park and in St. Margaret's as well. There are plans in place and I have been dealing with St. Margaret's for years, which is a lot better than the other sites. I have been going to meeting after meeting on accommodation, however. for more than ten years.

Turnover in the council, which is quite common, is another factor. New people are brought in and every couple of years there is a different person to deal with. It is very poor on the part of local authorities. This issue of accommodation has dragged on and it is very frustrating. To add to it, there is no penalty imposed as a result of it being dragged out. We have been promised three houses in Avila Park and the building of bungalows and a bay in effect in St. Margaret's. We have had consultation after consultation, many meetings with the Travellers, with the local authority and in some cases with politicians. We need to put the pressure on and things need to be better because things have not changed that much. However, I am hopeful now, with the ombudsman's report, the Minister's interest, everyone pushing and this committee putting the pressure on. It will be very important.