Mr. Bernard Joyce:

In the presentation I gave, I highlighted the poor, substandard and overcrowded accommodation in which something like 1,700 families are currently living. That is not satisfactory. That particular issue has not happened overnight but has been in place for the last 20 years and, in some cases, prior to the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998. The legislation and the framework that is currently there have not been fully implemented in the spirit in which they should have been implemented. Of course, there are obviously examples of good quality accommodation across some areas of the country but we are a lacking that level of standard.

The report of the Ombudsman for Children's Office shone a light on the situation where high numbers of children are living in some of the worst conditions in the world, not only in Ireland, yet we are here and people seem to think it is not a crisis. It is not acceptable. We cannot stand over it and that is why we are here today. It is why we have been advocating and campaigning, first, for legislative change and, second, for the recommendations of the report to be implemented in full. The reality is we just do not know. The people we believe to be responsible for implementing that are absolutely failing our community and the system itself is completely broken, so we need to see radical changes. The solutions are there and it is the political will and commitment to deliver that are needed. Nobody wants to be living in these conditions where, honestly, children find themselves presenting to their GP and, in some cases, being hospitalised because of conditions that are just not acceptable.

In terms of the budgets, I heard the Minister of State say earlier there is no issue with the budgets. If there is no issue, why are people living in these conditions?