Ms Brigid Casey:

As a spokesperson for the Irish Traveller Movement, this is a great opportunity to talk about the national Traveller accommodation strategy, which has been in place for the past 13 years. It estimated that there are 40,000 Travellers in Ireland - 36,000 in the Republic and 4,000 in the North of Ireland. The task force was put in place in 1995 and it recommended that there was a need to provide 3,100 units of accommodation. The Government made a commitment, through the national Traveller accommodation strategy, to invest in culturally appropriate accommodation to meet the needs of Travellers. There was no cap on investment for the accommodation nationally but there was very little progress in delivering the accommodation strategy.

Some 1,200 units in permanent halting sites, 900 units in group housing schemes and 1,000 transit bays were to be provided. Unfortunately, this was not carried out. What has changed since the task force on Traveller people? Legislation was put in place - the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998. This legislation was to improve the conditions for Travellers and we believed it would protect our nomadic way of life as Travellers. Under the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, each local authority is required to provide culturally appropriate accommodation in all its forms, including halting sites, group housing schemes, standard housing and transit accommodation. Some 849 units in total were provided between 2000 and 2011.

The role of the national Traveller accommodation consultative committee is to advise the Minister on the most appropriate measures for improving Traveller accommodation. Local Traveller accommodation consultative committees are made up of representatives from local authorities, Traveller representatives and local Traveller groups. Each local authority has an obligation to develop local Traveller accommodation plans. There were plans for 2000-04, for 2005-08 and 2009-13. They should be preparing the plan for 2014-18.