Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Roinnfidh mé dhá nóiméad dó sin leis an Teachta Breathnach. I wish I had a much longer time to address the Bill. The first thing that is obvious from the Bill is that the local authority will be required to read into the mind of the proposer of a development as to the purpose of the development. That will give rise to a very strange situation.

The greatest scandal of housing in this country, as well as people sleeping in the streets, is the way that over a long period, Travellers have not been properly accommodated in suitable Traveller-specific accommodation or in houses, whichever is their choice. There has been a total failure of society in general to deal with this issue. The Bill would provide an out to local authorities to continue to renege on their responsibilities to deal with this issue and to continue with irregular housing arrangements that Travellers are forced to adopt. It is time that we dealt with the Traveller housing issue. I have been working with Travellers for many years. One of the greatest scandals was the Carrickmines fire but an even greater scandal was the aftermath of the fire, where locals objected to the rehousing of those families on a NIMBY basis, despite the fact that there are Travellers living in the area who have been housed for a long time and cause no disturbance. The usual NIMBY arguments often do not stand up.

Above any group in society, Travellers would be the group most affected by the Bill and if anyone is really serious about dealing with this issue he or she should make a suggestion to the Minister. For many years we have relied on local authorities under Part 8 to vote for Traveller-specific houses. Many local authorities, including Galway City Council, have failed to grasp the nettle year after year. Galway City Council is in flagrant contravention of planning in Galway County Council's area. Despite the ruling from An Bord Pleanála, it will not grasp the nettle. I suggest that we stop leaving the decision on Part 8 planning for Traveller-specific housing to local authorities. Local authorities can make the plan for Traveller-specific housing in the normal way but related planning applications would be referred directly to An Bord Pleanála, which would have to take cognisance of the plan when considering any planning application and would allow for people to make objections in the usual way for a critical infrastructure process. If we were to do that it would do ten times more to provide high-quality, long-term suitable housing than the way outlined in the Bill, which just provides a quick lazy fix to a very serious problem.

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