Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and will respond first to the general point on funding. For the Deputy's information, I met two weeks ago with members of the Irish Traveller Movement who referred to the Dunsink Lane issue but that was not included on the Deputy's agenda today so I will not address it directly.

In accordance with the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller accommodation programmes designed to meet the accommodation needs of Travellers rests with individual housing authorities. My Department's role is to ensure there is an adequate legislative and financial system in place to assist the authorities in providing such accommodation. While the budget for Traveller-specific accommodation has declined considerably from previous years, the March 2011 housing needs assessment showed a clear preference among Travellers for standard housing, which is funded separately from Traveller-specific accommodation. The assessment has shown that of the 1,824 Traveller families on the waiting list, 1,789 opted for standard local authority or voluntary housing. The vast majority of Travellers already live in standard housing, whether standard local authority housing or private housing with local authority assistance, rent supplement or assistance under the rental accommodation scheme. Therefore, while funding for Traveller-specific accommodation continues to be provided for Traveller families who wish to be accommodated in this manner, evidence shows that the vast majority of Travellers wish to be accommodated in standard housing. Some €6 million out of the €60 million I allocated recently for local authority construction and acquisition programmes is for Traveller-specific projects.

Regarding the specific issue raised by the Deputy, in September 2011, Dublin City Council submitted a request to my Department for the provision of funding for remedial works to the houses in question. The detail of the proposal and potential alternatives for funding have been the subject of correspondence between my Department and the city council in the interim. A formal application for funding, including an evaluation of the options for remediation and-or replacement in respect of the number of properties affected, the extent of the works proposed and an all-in cost for the project, was requested from the council in January of this year. Subsequently, a meeting took place between my Department and the council on 7 March to consider how to advance the works. While a number of issues require clarification from the council, the Department has given a provisional commitment to part-fund these works. Funding will be reviewed after all outstanding issues have been addressed and, following this, the receipt of a tender report in due course from the council.

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