Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The issue is not really about this site, but about the general conditions in which Travelling people live around the country. There are social problems in every community that make the resolution of specific areas more difficult than others. We are speaking about a general problem and a general approach.

Is it any wonder that the accommodation and land needs of the Traveller community have lagged behind, particularly in the greater Dublin area, when we see in this morning's newspapers the gallery of rogues, many of whom are members of Fianna Fáil, paraded in front of the Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments yesterday, people who facilitated large speculators in land rezoning scandals in the 1980s and 1990s in order to exorbitantly increase land prices? They were far from providing for working class or Traveller communities. The priorities of those in positions of power in Dublin were other than taking care of vulnerable, Traveller or working class communities.

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