Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)

I wish to follow on from the comments made at the previous committee, which our guests probably did not hear, but it was about the number of Travellers in homeless accommodation and we did not get a real answer. I thank the CCMA for the figures and for advising us to interpret them with caution, which we accept. In fairness, the figures are more reflective of what was said at a previous session. It was 549 in 2024 and 432 in 2025, which we cautiously accept. I want to put that on the record. We did not get an answer from the Department and I was disappointed because the delegation did not seem to have any clue of how many people were Travellers. I understand that people will identify and will not identify as Travellers, which is an issue.

I wish to ask a brief question because I asked most of my questions at the previous session. The capital expenditure was changed in 2020 and the Department said it was done to make it easier for local authorities to apply for funding. Can the witnesses give us a view on that and outline how it has worked?