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

I regret that I must again raise an issue I have raised many times on Questions on Policy or Legislation. I refer to the issue of Travellers on halting sites living in substandard trailers or caravans. There is a very limited pilot scheme called the caravan loan scheme whereby local authorities are given an allocation of caravans every year for replacement purposes. That scheme only provides for replacement with second-hand caravans and is not based on need. This is quite a limited problem but it needs to be dealt with. What is urgently required is very simple, namely an assessment of the need for replacement trailers for Travellers living on halting sites and a scheme that would fully fund the provision of new trailers as opposed to second-hand ones. If it is being lived in 365 days a year, the lifetime of a new trailer is short. The idea of replacing them with second-hand trailers is penny wise and pound foolish. Will the Minister indicate if it is intended to introduce a scheme in this regard and, if so, when will this happen?

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