Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I thank the representatives from Dublin City Council and Galway City Council who have responsibility for the Traveller community. I thank them for the reports. I will not ask about caravan costs; it will just waste time as it has been clarified. We now know what we have to do in that regard. I will certainly push it, as will the committee.

I will ask Mr. Smithers about Dublin City Council's Traveller accommodation programme, which will come into effect in December 2024 to cover the period from 2025 to 2029. For my information, as I cannot remember, did Dublin City Council zone areas for Traveller-specific accommodation for permanent housing in the development plan? He made the point that there were issues accessing sites that were compromised. He said:

Dublin City Council has taken steps to remedy these issues, including engaging with the Traveller Mediation Service, and it continues to endeavour to deliver the required services to all of our sites.

What other steps did the council take? He referenced just one step.

I have another question on the loans that were given. Mr. Smithers said:

Funding for eight loans was granted to the council in 2023, with funding for an additional two loans made available in December 2023. All have now been allocated to families on our waiting list.

Were those families put, or just replaced, on existing halting sites? The work programme is fine, but has Dublin County Council undertaken any policy on animals, including horses and dogs, etc., on halting sites? I did not hear Mr. Smithers mention that on the Labre Park issue, and there are a number of horses around that site. When the council did the count of Travellers in 2023, "a total of 854 families were identified in the Dublin City Council area on the date of the count" and 52 households were in emergency homeless accommodation. Were transient sites included in that? Are there many unofficial or transient sites in the Dublin City Council area in general?

I did not realise that the LTACC is looking at ways it might support members of the Travelling community to start their own business in the circular economy. I know a man of around 52 years of age who is interested in getting involved in scrap metal.

He needs more information about it so it would be great if Mr. Smithers could pass it on.

There are other questions that I want to ask. It does not appear that Dublin City Council provided any new units of accommodation throughout the course of 2014 to 2018 in the Traveller accommodation programme. Has it been successful in providing new units during its most recent Traveller accommodation programme?

The next question relates to Dublin City Council's projected future need by measuring the number of Traveller children who turn 18 throughout the duration of the TAP. Has Mr. Smithers found that this metric has been useful for Dublin City Council? Will he use the same metric for the next TAP? Does he believe this metric is adequate in the longer term? It is very important that we map what accommodation will be needed in the future for the Travelling community in particular.

What plans does Dublin City Council have for the development of transient sites? I have asked a number of questions. I have not referred to Galway as I do not really know the area that well, but the caravan issue crosses both areas.