Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank both Senators Boyhan and Hackett for allowing me to speak because I am due to be in the Seanad Chamber at 10.30 a.m.

Following on from Deputy Ó Broin's remarks, I thank the witnesses today for their great work. Like many of those in attendance, I speak with a certain amount of experience of the Traveller accommodation issue. I was an incidental landlord and rented property to a Traveller family for a long time very successfully. I have seen at first hand the intimidation and discrimination that takes place against families who are trying their best.

As a member of a local authority who had quite an amount of Traveller accommodation in my direct home area, I never objected at all but actively encouraged and supported quality Traveller accommodation. That leads me to a couple of questions, because we were able to get around many issues through the use by the county manager - or CEO in today's terms - of emergency powers to circumvent and build emergency accommodation and I note one recommendation is that these should be used more.

Where does best practice take place? The review group has looked at all the local authorities in the country. If one was to identify best practice, is there a local authority that has used the structures and supports that are there to a certain degree of success? The overarching point is that nationally, we have a diabolical record in accommodating members of the Traveller community. Can the witnesses give a good example in this regard? As there are powers in place, where have they been used successfully? While we absolutely need to bring in more powers where they are needed, there are powers available that are not being used.

Has the review group done any investigation - I have not read the report in detail - as to whether approved housing bodies have stepped up to the plate to a large degree with regard to their responsibilities? Perhaps legislation is needed to ensure that a percentage of their work, and of the houses they allocate would be Traveller-specific. I will start with those questions and may have a couple of follow-on questions afterwards.