Ms Elizabeth Fanning:

We had 34 applicants and ten were ineligible. If we had had more money we would have been able to give a few more to those who were successful. We feel the criteria for the scheme could be looked at. It is mostly down to arrears. Deputy Ó Cuív looked at that as well. There could be more leniency on that, because it has been very successful and brings a lot of positivity to the sites as well. Two of the families were at the LTACC meeting yesterday. They are thrilled with them, so we could look at the criteria and make them a little less strict.

On the emergency side, we only got approval for two this year and two last year. We could have given more if we had more money. Even with the criteria being strict we still did not give as many as we could have. I am not sure we have many applying for the emergency caravan fund at the moment. It is not really relevant to us on Galway City Council.

We have more Travellers looking for normal social housing. We have not done any research into it. I do not think the conditions are getting worse on the halting sites. We are trying to make them better. We are bringing in our culturally-appropriate accommodation. We started with our circular road project, which is the prototype. If that gets off the ground and is successful, which we hope it will be, that might change and people might have a preference for the culturally-appropriate accommodation. We would welcome research on that.

I am not sure I covered everything there, but the committee can come back to me if needed.