Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To make the Deputy's point, on which I agree with him, there is no lack of effort on the Government's part, but the outcomes are not changing. For example, in the latest budget we allocated €15 million for Traveller-specific accommodation, a 25% increase on the figure for last year. Looking at the recent history of this issue, it is no secret that the delivery of Traveller accommodation has been challenging, to put it mildly. Budget allocations have simply not been spent. In the ten years between 2008 and 2017 the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government recouped in excess of €105 million to local authorities from a capital budget of €156 million. That represents a collective drawdown of 67% of capital funding by local authorities. In other words, money that has been made available cannot be spent because of the politics and social challenges surrounding the issue. We need to work with Traveller representative bodies and the Traveller community to provide reassurance.

We also need to ensure there is leadership at local government level, as well as in national policy, to be able to change the narrative that, unfortunately, has resulted in so many in the travelling community being desperately disadvantaged through the non-delivery of many of the essential services to which they should be entitled.

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