John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I will not take long. The questions arise out of some of the answers we received from the Department officials who were here previously. One of those is the current expenditure of the Department for the maintenance and upkeep of halting sites and the sufficiency around that. There was much commentary beforehand about how some halting sites are in poor condition and could do with more intense management and a greater level of maintenance. I recognise fully, as set out in Ms Carr's presentation, the importance of maintaining and ensuring the highest standards with regard to fire safety. Does Ms Carr think the current level of resourcing of local authorities is sufficient for that work?

Another question I have is about when a local authority develops a concept for either Traveller-specific accommodation or a group scheme or, as is happening in my own local authority in Galway city, when a local authority plans to develop a housing scheme with a group scheme for members of the Travelling community as part of it. Does Ms Carr think the process to get approval from the Department for those schemes is lengthier because they include for Traveller-specific accommodation?

To revert to the issue of the funding for the current expenditure, there were some queries as to whether it is appropriate that funding for social workers within local authorities comes from that source, and whether - and Ms Carr might clarify if that is the case - they should be funded from an alternative source? I am not sure how much of the funding for social workers comes from the income generated by local authorities themselves.

My final query is in respect of the loan scheme. From Ms Carr's experience of the applications local authorities are getting for the loan scheme from members of the Travelling community, what is the success rate? Have many applications been declined? Does Ms see an increased demand for that loan scheme or have we sufficient resources there?