Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community

Expert Group Review of Traveller Accommodation: Discussion

Ms Emily Murtagh:

I will take those two questions together. The first was asking for an update around the caravan loan scheme and the second was the hopes for it. The caravan loan scheme is something that is provided for under the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998. A scheme that was running in some of the local authorities previously was found to be not fit for purpose for several reasons, one of them being the small amount that was offered. It was approximately €5,000, which obviously does not lead to the kind of high-quality accommodation that is necessary for residential year-round living. Over the last few years, there has been work to deliver a new preferential caravan loan scheme. There are some positive aspects to it and some aspects to it that we would still have reservations about. Serious concerns have been raised around the country, both in some of the pilot areas and in other areas. Some of the positives are that it is a higher loan amount than the previous scheme, so it is up to €30,000 and it is also at a preferential rate. The full amount will not be paid back over the period and it is based on the differential rates in that area in which the repayments are made. Some of the reservations we have are that due to increased pricing around mobile accommodation, increased staycationing and increased access due to Brexit and other issues, €30,000 is no longer sufficient to provide that high-standard residential quality mobile home. National Traveller MABS has done really good research on what that might look like. The pilot scheme is running in four local authority areas, namely, Dublin City Council, Cork city and Limerick city and county. Dublin city and south Dublin are the two Dublin schemes. The pilot is very much oversubscribed. The Deputy asked about the numbers that maybe have applied to it. The Minister of State, Deputy Burke, referenced earlier that in one local authority, 47 people have applied for it. The budget for the pilot at the moment is €1.5 million, meaning approximately 50 mobiles will be provided across the four local authority areas. It is oversubscription within just the pilot areas and we should consider that is four local authorities out of 31.

As well as that, the loan scheme is not going to be the option for everyone who is in need of a new mobile home. A loan of €30,000 is a big undertaking. Mobile homes still need to be consistently provided through other funding streams, including the emergency caravans provision. That might be something similar to what Deputy Gould referenced. There need to be other mechanisms by which Travellers who wish to live in Traveller-specific accommodation are being given mobile homes. The other reservation is the quality of the mobile homes being delivered and that is not covered under the housing standards for rental housing reservations. There are not, therefore, those kinds of safeguards for Travellers. For some people it will definitely be a great option but the overall thing is that it should not be the only option for Travellers who wish to live in mobile accommodation. I do not know if Mr. Joyce wants to add anything to that.