Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise for hogging the meeting but I have spent two years working on this issue. Given that a finite number of people live in trailers on halting sites in this country, I cannot for the life of me understand, with all the money swinging around this country and I am careful with money, why we cannot find out how many trailers are substandard and replace the whole lot of them. We must provide whatever money it takes because trailers are not expensive when compared with houses. We must ensure that every Traveller who lives in a trailer has a good trailer of a high standard and we can be done with this issue.

As I said earlier, accommodation has to be equal for all in this country. What I read between the lines is that the Department's approach is the usual one of what can be got from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and how much can we push them. I suggest that we discuss this issue in private. If that is the problem, we should collectively raise this issue with the Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Basically, what really constrains the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and the officials cannot say it here, is that they feel they would not get the budget from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, which can be irrational at times.