Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask about the Part 8 exemption for social housing to which the Minister of State referred in his response. Deputy Ó Broin is correct that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, made no mention of Traveller-specific housing when he was putting forward a rationale for the exemption. Can the Minister of State let us know how many Traveller-specific homes have been delivered under the exemption that the Government has introduced and how many are in the pipeline? Also, that is a temporary exemption, is it not? Surely then, given its temporary nature, and as regards the permanent changes I am putting forward here in my amendments, what we need in the legislation is permanent changes. My amendment No. 306 seeks simply to ensure that, in page 98, paragraph (8)(b) would read "ensure that the development plan is materially consistent with ... each local authority's Traveller accommodation programme". The Minister of State may ask why it is necessary to have such a wording, and he may say it should of course be materially consistent with that. Given, however, the condition of Traveller-specific housing at the moment, given the deficits there and the impacts on human health and well-being, including, significantly, the impact on children, and given that the status quo has not worked, I think there is a strong case for strengthening the legislation here.