Dessie Ellis (Dublin North-West, Sinn Fein)

I wish to speak on a couple of points. There have been fire safety issues, mainly on halting sites. I have spoken to Mr. D'Arcy previously about some of the halting sites. I have also seen a lot of units down in Cork. This needs to be looked at more, along with the issue of the fire safety equipment that is on site. Sometimes, hoses are not available or not working. It is a major issue because we cannot afford to have something like what happened previously where there is overcrowding on sites.

I was interested in hearing about the modular homes. We are aware that the caravan loans are short term. Would it be feasible to move more towards modular homes? I do not know what the reaction of the community would be. I know some of the community would be happy with the idea of modular homes. It would probably make more sense to concentrate on that a bit.

I was down in Springmount a few years ago and looking at the sites down there. I note that Cork has no horse project, Limerick has no horse project, and there is fierce opposition to the whole idea.

This is not just for the Traveller community; this is also for local communities. There is fierce opposition to the whole idea of looking at this. In my area, there are three horse projects on Dunsink Lane. The three of them are unofficial, mainly, but they provide a massive amount of help in the area for the local people and the Traveller community. It has a massive knock-on effect. I am involved in one of them in a lot of ways. I would like to see people being a bit more open to looking at this, not just for the Traveller community. I feel there is a lot to be gained by following it.