Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First of all, our sympathies go to the families again. The national flag flies at half mast on all public buildings today as a mark of sympathy and solidarity with the families that have lost their loved ones, all ten adults, children and an unborn baby. Clearly, the issue of Traveller accommodation has been very much to the fore. An audit is now being carried out of all Traveller halting sites throughout the country. Deputy Adams will be aware that accommodation is provided for Travellers through a range of measures, including the standard local authority housing financed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government; Traveller-specific accommodation initiated by the Department; private housing assisted by the State, including local authorities and voluntary organisations; and Travellers' own resources.

The 2014 annual count of Traveller families showed that, of the 10,226 families that were accounted for here, the majority, 35%, were accommodated in standard social housing, 26% were in private rented accommodation, 5% were in assisted private housing, and 6% were housed under their own resources. Thirteen percent were in group housing, 9% were in shared accommodation, just 1% were in transient sites, and 4% were in unauthorised sites. Clearly, accommodation is an issue. I find, having dealt with this over the years, that where communities are engaged with and have the situation explained to them, be it an emergency or not, generally - although not in all cases by any means - there is a willingness to work with local authorities.

Deputy Adams is aware that the Government will provide funding for Traveller accommodation, but it is best delivered through the local authorities, where the local representatives know the local people and engage with Traveller families that may be accustomed to or have lived in a locality for quite a long time.

As to the point that the Deputy raises about the cross-Border issue, I do not think it is necessary to set up a new forum here. Both sides of the North-South forum - the ministerial forum - could actually have fed their views to the Traveller accommodation personnel, who would prepare a report on that. Maybe Deputy Mac Lochlainn does not agree. I am not sure that having another separate administrative operation is the way to go here. We have a system that does address a whole range of problems. I do not see why the Cena group or the Traveller accommodation groups down here could not work with their counterparts and feed in their views through the various Ministers for local government, the environment or whatever. Perhaps at the next meeting we might have an item on the agenda dealing with this to see how it might proceed.

I take the point about inequality and the treatment of individuals who happen to be Travellers, along with other groups that might be deemed to be fringe groups also. It is a serious challenge.

See this speech in context