Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim buíoch as an deis a thug an Ceann Comhairle dom caint faoin ábhar an-tabhachtach seo maidir leis an Lucht Siúil. The publication yesterday of the judgment against the State by the European Committee of Social Rights in respect of housing for Travellers is a damning one and must be taken with the utmost seriousness. I welcome the committee's findings as they vindicate the position that Traveller advocacy groups, human rights bodies and some political parties have taken on the issue of Traveller housing or the lack thereof over the years. The committee concluded that the State violated Article 16 of the European Social Charter on the grounds of insufficient provision of accommodation for Travellers on three grounds. First, there was insufficient provision of that accommodation. It was found that of 1,000 transient beds identified as needed by a 1995 task force, only 54 are in place, and not all function as proper transient sites. Second, it was judged that many sites are in a poor state of repair or badly located, and a lack of water, poor rubbish collection and problems with damp, flooding and sewage are persistent. Safeguards for Travellers threatened with eviction are inadequate. The current legislative framework fails to provide for adequate consultation or notice, or a requirement to propose alternative accommodation.

For an illustration of all three issues, we need only consider the disgraceful and degrading treatment of Travellers in my constituency, Louth. Travellers in Dundalk have been evicted not once, but twice, in recent months. Seventeen families were displaced, including 22 children, some only days old. They were effectively put on the side of the road. The distress to the families as a result of the decision by Louth County Council, without consultation with elected members, to evict them from council-owned land has been entirely unreasonable and unnecessary. The common sense and most efficient resolution is to ensure urgently that the council provides a temporary emergency halting site while the State-wide review of Traveller accommodation is ongoing.

Councils are obliged to put in place Traveller accommodation but there is no transient site in Louth and the families have consequently no choice but to park their caravans wherever they can. That position is not tenable. Such issues are no surprise given the fact that, over the past decade, funding for Traveller accommodation has been cut by 93%, from €70 million in 2008 down to €4.3 million in 2015.

The Housing Act has also contributed to the crisis as it empowers gardaí to move families on demand without notice. The programme for Government contains some measures that are welcome, including a new integrated framework for social inclusion. I look forward to the publication of a revised national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy by the end of 2016, as promised. The commitment to establish a working group to audit the current delivery and implementation of Traveller accommodation plans also sounds positive but there is a failure to provide a timeline for its completion, which, I hope, the Minister might clarify.

Sinn Féin has called for a range of measures to provide Traveller accommodation, including the front-loading of funding to councils with a good track record in drawing down funding to provide Traveller accommodation. We also believe the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee should take charge of the provision of Traveller accommodation and be given an annual budget and target, and an all-Ireland programme for nomadism should be drawn up, allowing for co-operation between all local authorities across the Thirty-two Counties. Incorporating the provision of Traveller accommodation programmes into local development plans and objectives would also be a welcome move.

Traveller ethnicity is a key issue. We were told in late 2014 by the then Minister of State, Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, that recognition of Traveller ethnicity would be a reality in six months. Nineteen months later, we have seen no movement on this. Travellers have such recognition in the North, England, Scotland and Wales. The formal recognition of ethnicity is not a magic wand or a formula that will address the challenges and discrimination faced by the Traveller community, but it would be a step in the right direction. I appeal to the Minister to ensure a temporary emergency halting site is put in place for the families in Dundalk. He should advance all other mechanisms for dealing with the issues raised in the judgment of the European Committee of Social Rights and ensure the Government commits to delivering Traveller ethnicity in the coming term.

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