Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to comment on the report. I extend my sympathy to the families and people who lost loved ones and friends in the Carrickmines tragedy. I welcome the representatives of the Traveller community who are present.

While the Minister has provided an outline of the €9 million for Traveller accommodation, what safeguards are in place for the councils' expenditure of this money on Traveller accommodation? It is a similar question to that asked by many others today but I think it is the key to the matter. Does one penalise a council that does not spend its allocation? Is it feasible, as Senator Landy suggested, to link it to moneys being spent on other projects? I do not know the answer but this is the nub of the matter. If what happened in previous years is a gauge, the best part of €2 million will not be spent on Traveller accommodation this year. It is a fair concern that the money will not be spent.

An issue that keep recurring is whether responsibility for Traveller accommodation should remain with the county councils or, as Senator Boyhan suggested, be centralised. I veer in the direction of local responsibility. As has been pointed out, responsibility should rest with the council and in the first instance, the Traveller accommodation committees, together with the chairperson, elected representatives and council staff should spend the money. I think centralisation could be a problem. Senator Murnane O'Connor made a helpful and important suggestion to have a building inspectorate oversee projects and works to ensure they are done to a standard, as it is not good enough to send out a message that sub-standard work would suffice. When Senator Coffey served as the Minister of State in the previous Government, money was spent on projects in Athlone and different areas and one could see the benefits of it. These projects were respected. I call on the Minister to try to force, in whatever way possible, the spending in these communities of the allocation of €9 million.