Eileen Flynn (Independent)

Are there any recommendations from the Department on how we can invest in true Traveller accommodation? Does Mr. O'Sullivan have any suggestions for the committee? Is it okay with the Department that we fund social workers, waste management, the Covid-19 chalk on sites and separating families? The money spent on that should not have come out of the Traveller accommodation budget. As somebody who was born and reared on a halting sites and sees the issues on sites, I was once that young Traveller who went to school with infections from falling on the site. That is still the reality today for children on many halting sites. It is something that came up in the last committee as well. Today, it is worth getting clarity and it is important to have the opportunity for me to speak. How do we stop the Department of housing having to fund social workers? I am not saying it is a waste of money. It is very valuable money, of course, and many people need social work, but why is it coming from the housing budget? I can never make head nor tail of that.