Ms Elizabeth Fanning:

The needs assessment has not been done per se, and it is possibly something we should look at to have an objective standard. Local authorities seem to do this in different ways, so a standard, systematic process across all local authorities would be welcomed.

The repayment is calculated for Galway County Council - and, again, we all do it differently - at €25 per week over ten years. With regard to the ineligible ones, most of it was for rent arrears, but we work with the Traveller families and we gave them time to clear arrears. However, there is probably more room for improvement on that as well.

We also welcome and see the benefit of social enterprises. It came up yesterday at our LTACC so we are going to try and bring about more social enterprises with Traveller families through the LTACC and work with the GTM on that.

There is overcrowding at the Cúl Trá site in Salthill. It is a rolling lease at the moment. The plan is - and we are still working on it - that some of those families will be accommodated at the Circular Road scheme when it is completed by the end of this year.

With regard to the Part 10 planning, there were two social housing developments that included Traveller-specific accommodation, so there were about 70 at Keeraun, and there were about 25 at Headford Road, all of which did not get permission. The mean reason for refusal, I suppose, was peripherality. We did not have the footpaths and we did not have the transportation, although a lot of these places are walking distance away. Half an hour would get you into Eyre Square. The problem is there has been a shift where housing developments are now almost transportation-led. In the past, they used to go hand in hand. You would have the two programmes together but now what we are finding is we really have to have the transportation in before we get the approval. On the Keeraun site, the roads department is undertaking a multimodality report. From that, we hope to go back very soon on the Keeraun one with another planning permission. Again, it will be a Part 10 application to An Bord Pleanála.

On the difficulty between our city and county boundaries, many of our Traveller families have a preference for the county. We find it extremely difficult to purchase properties for them in the county, for many reasons. When we have attempted it, it has not been successful. We would welcome any assistance we can get on this. From a CE and a departmental perspective, we need to work together. I plan on doing that with the county council to come up with some arrangement where if they transferred over to the county council, they would not lose their spot. That does not make sense. Why would you move then? There is a great deal of work to do on that, and we would welcome any assistance on it.

I may have answered everything but the Deputy can come back if I have left something out.