Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 1 February 2024

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community

Traveller Accommodation: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Niall ? Donnabh?in:

It is an interesting question that speaks again to the issue of differential rent, how we apply it and how the loan is managed. It is obviously done on a preferential basis that does not reflect the full value but is instead means tested against the capacity of the family involved. If a rental aspect were to be rolled out, it would have to be of a different standard. It would have to be of a more robust, sustainable and long-term standard because to be fair to anybody, if you are renting and trying to pitch a social house allocated to any member of the community versus a mobile home, you would have to go to a more robust form and new-build structure that the family accepts and wants. We would then work a scheme around that from a rental point of view. The current scheme could not be worked into a rental scheme because the figure available is insufficient to drive the quality of the accommodation that is needed. That is my view.