Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The temporary exemption in Part 5 has nothing to do with Traveller accommodation. It is for a completely different purpose. While some local authorities, including my own, use it to advance a much-needed Traveller accommodation project, that project would have progressed just as well and within the same period of time under the old Part 8 because our local authority would not have blocked it. The difficulty lies with those local authorities that do not have a decent track record of providing Traveller-specific accommodation. I am not asking the Minister of State to come back on it but we are five years on from those sections of the traveller accommodation report, and I suspect there will be significant reluctance both from the CCMA and from the Department to give effect to those crucial recommendations. The problem is that it means the actual volume of new Traveller-specific accommodation that will be delivered year-on-year will continue to be far below what is required. That is one of the reasons Travellers are more likely to be in emergency accommodation or insecure and inappropriate private rental accommodation.

It probably falls more under the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, rather than Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, as it did with Deputies Peter Burke and Damien English before. The issue has to be raised because we need that change to legislation. Ultimately, it will be a change to this Bill. The sooner we get it, the better.