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

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House to deal with this issue. I am a little disappointed that the Minister is not present because when this Dáil came together, the importance of having line Ministers present to deal with Topical Issues was stressed.

A report was produced by National Traveller MABS which examined in detail the fuel poverty experienced by those living in mobile homes, trailers and caravans. The report is very readable and makes concise and implementable suggestions and recommendations. We must put the matter in context. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the interest he has shown in the Traveller community by facilitating the establishment of an all-party committee to examine Traveller issues. The one fact that jumps out every day is that Travellers die at a lot younger age than the rest of us. They suffer far worse health outcomes. When one drills down, one continually finds that it all comes down to basic items such as accommodation. It is not the case that they have less access to doctors. In fact, many Travellers go to the doctor much more frequently than members of the settled community. When seeking to address their quality of life and health issues and mortality rates, one must always look at the issue of accommodation.

We will not solve these accommodation issues overnight and get good standard accommodation for all Travellers. In Galway, one site did not have planning permission even though it had been a city council halting site for the previous six or seven years. However, the council did not do what it was obliged to and has been told what to do by An Bord Pleanála, which is to come up with proper accommodation that would be suitable for the Travellers all the time. There is no fault attached to the Travellers in that case as they were put there by the city council.

There are not many recommendations. One is that we should have either a rent-to-buy or a rental scheme for quality accommodation, caravans or mobile homes. That could be done easily as they are a very small community and the number who live in caravans and trailers is a small percentage of that. It would not be difficult if the will was there. The second is a simple recommendation, namely that the fuel allowance would be higher than the standard rate of €22.50 for those living in caravans or trailers. The cost would not have much of an effect on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection budget but it would make a major difference to those living in trailers, caravans or mobile homes. The next proposal relates to something I find difficult to understand. Where two caravans are in the same bay, there is only one fuel allowance payment between the two families. That could be sorted tomorrow and that would not break the Department's budget. One would not measure it in the spending of that Department. The final proposal relates to something that has deteriorated in the past seven or eight years, namely access to discretionary payments where there are particular health issues and where now there is an eight-page form to be filled following which there is no discretion. The applicant is expected to produce so many receipts and so much documentation that it can be very difficult, particularly for people with literacy issues to access the payment. I hope that the Minister of State will inform us that the Department has considered this and it will now deal with the report that Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív did not produce but that was done by MABS Travellers.

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