Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the continued progress in the negotiations on a successor to the Croke Park agreement with the public sector unions. I join colleagues, including Senator Terry Brennan yesterday, in commending the efforts of Mr. Kieran Mulvey, chief executive officer of the Labour Relations Commission, who is chairing the talks and the commitment shown both by union leaders and the Government side to find a solution. I hope they will achieve the outcome that is so greatly needed.

At yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht members heard that a number of local authorities, including two of the largest in the country, Dublin City Council and Cork County Council, were not using their full budget for Traveller accommodation. Criticisms in this regard were stoutly rebutted by the managers of these two local authorities, but the representatives of the Traveller community made a strong impact at the meeting as they called for an independent authority to deal with Traveller accommodation. There has, undoubtedly, been a great deal of discrimination against Travellers for many years. On the other hand, there has also been a great deal of anti-social behaviour by certain members of the Traveller community. It would be helpful if all of these issues could be addressed within the remit of a new agency. Will the Leader arrange for the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to brief the House on how she intends to ensure local authorities utilise their full allocation for Traveller accommodation in the future? I am interested to learn whether she is in favour of the establishment of an independent authority as requested by Traveller representatives.

The Government undertook to have completed a local election constituency review by the end of May. Half way through the month, my information is that the electoral commission has signed off on the review in the past two weeks and that it may already be at the printers. Unfortunately, the leaking of information has become almost de rigueur for the Government. The document should be published without delay. I am sure Deputies would not be satisfied to wait just one year before the next general election to discover the precise make-up of the Dáil constituency in which they intend to stand. It is very unfair to expect councillors and prospective councillors to put an organisation together and plan a campaign when they still do not know in which constituency they will be contesting in approximately 12 months time.