Malcolm Noonan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It has been a very useful session following on from the session last week with the National Traveller Women's Forum and addressing some of the issues, particularly around ethnicity.

I find in our community in Kilkenny that there seems to be a very disparate approach in terms of who is leading on Traveller development work. At times, across the country, that disparate aspect is leading to different outcomes or different approaches, whether it is the local development companies, family resource centres, or the local authorities. I feel there is a handwashing of responsibility at times. I am interested to know Tusla's experience of that inconsistency of approach which can sometimes lead to an inconsistency in terms of programmes. There is a lot of stop-starting of programmes and a lot of pilot programmes. Sometimes families can be inundated with programmes and find it confusing. I am keen to know the witnesses' views on that approach at local level.