Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is good to be back in the House. I thank all Senators for the opportunity to discuss this very important issue. Addressing Traveller accommodation is a priority for me and the Department and I am glad we have a chance to discuss the issue, on which we touched in various previous debates. I am conscious that some Senators have been very focused on this area over the past year and have brought a group of like-minded people together. It is good to have a chance to talk through where we are at the moment.

The Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 provides that local authorities have statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and for the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller accommodation programmes, TAPs, in their areas. My Department’s role is to ensure there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist the authorities in providing such accommodation, including a national framework of policy, legislation and, most important, funding.

It is a matter for each local authority to set targets for the provision of Traveller accommodation in their Traveller accommodation programmes. The allocation and recoupment profiles for Traveller accommodation projects can vary across local authorities given the local priorities, circumstances and project timelines set out in their programmes. These programmes provide a roadmap for local authority investment priorities over the period and form the basis for the allocation of funding for Traveller accommodation from my Department. When we discussed this briefly at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government this morning, members asked how the capital funding is allocated. This is generally done on the basis of a list of the applications submitted to the Department and the priorities of local government. Last year, money was provided to projects which could and should have been developed but where the follow-through did not necessarily take place.

A dedicated capital budget is in place to fund the delivery of Traveller-specific accommodation such as group housing and halting sites for Traveller families. The budget also provides funding for renovation and refurbishment work to improve the standard of existing accommodation. The budget available for Traveller-specific accommodation in 2019 is €13 million, which is an increase of €1 million on the 2018 figure and €4 million on the 2017 figure.However, it is important to note that accommodation for Traveller households is provided across a range of housing options. With regard to the budget, we are not back to the highs of the capital budget we had for Traveller accommodation a number of years ago. While I would like us to get back there, the difficulty is we are not in a position to draw down from what is provided. Hopefully, as we make changes, we will get this money spent and we will be able to secure more money and ring-fence more funding for Traveller accommodation in the years ahead.

To return to the different range of housing options, the majority of Travellers live in standard housing, including local authority housing and HAP-supported tenancies in the private rented sector. Funding for these housing supports are provided through the respective budget lines and the Traveller accommodation budget is provided solely for Traveller-specific accommodation. Accordingly, funding available to provide housing solutions for Travellers is much broader than the Traveller accommodation budget. I am conscious that most of the focus of this discussion and our debates around Traveller accommodation is on Traveller-specific accommodation.

In addition to the capital funding provided, my Department provides revenue funding to local authorities for specific Traveller accommodation-related supports, such as social worker salaries and the management and maintenance of halting sites and group housing schemes. A total of €5.1 million was provided to local authorities to meet these costs in 2018. However, there is little doubt that delivery on capital programmes in recent years has been very disappointing and addressing the reasons for this and implementing solutions is something I am determined to address. I am conscious the lack of drawdown of funds and lack of development on the ground have been raised by many colleagues in the Seanad, across all parties. It is a shame to see capital money allocated and not spent when people are living in conditions that are not suitable for their families.

In January 2019, the European Committee of Social Rights published its findings on Ireland’s 15th report in 2017 on the implementation of the revised European Social Charter. The findings of the committee were very disappointing. In particular, the committee found there was insufficient provision of adequate accommodation for Travellers and that many Traveller sites were of inadequate condition. The report also acknowledged the response to fire safety issues taken by the Department, under the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, following the Carrickmines tragedy in October 2015. The inquest into these tragic deaths took place at the Coroners Court in January this year. I want to outline some of the work that has been undertaken by my Department and the local authorities in the intervening period.

In the immediate aftermath of the Carrickmines fire, my Department’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management was commissioned to develop and oversee an audit and programme to improve fire safety in local authority-provided Traveller accommodation. Recognising broader issues related to Traveller accommodation, the national directorate worked with Traveller representative groups to develop a culturally appropriate approach to the task. The review process focused on “life safety” and on ensuring that practical and appropriate fire safety measures, which contribute to preventing loss of life and serious injury in local authority Traveller accommodation, have been applied systematically across the country. This involved appraising fire safety in Traveller accommodation against standards set out in a new guide to fire safety in existing Traveller accommodation, a working draft of which was prepared by the national directorate in collaboration with fire services and the Traveller community. The purpose of the guide was to assist local authorities in undertaking the review and implementing the necessary improvements. The programme also involved running a series of community fire safety initiatives aimed at Traveller organisations and the wider Traveller community so that awareness of fire risk and fire safety is developed and maintained over the longer term. Individual local authorities have completed substantial works to ensure accommodation is made safer.

In September 2016, my Department published the Report on the Programme to Review and Enhance Fire Safety in Local Authority Provided Traveller Accommodation. Following on from the report, the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee, NTACC, continues to monitor the work undertaken by the local Traveller accommodation consultative committees in regard to fire safety.

The guide to fire safety in existing Traveller accommodation was prepared by the national directorate in collaboration with fire services and the Traveller community to assist local authorities in implementing necessary improvements. This guidance will be issued to the local authorities in the coming weeks on foot of the recent case. It has been formalised into a document and the guidelines will issue.

As indicated previously, the delivery of Traveller accommodation in many local authorities has been challenging in recent years, to the extent that budget allocations have not been fully expended. Over the past ten years, 2009-18, the Department has recouped in excess of €75 million to local authorities from a capital budget of €128.8 million. This represents a 59% drawdown on capital funding by local authorities collectively. In light of the condition of many of the Traveller-specific accommodation sites and the need for more, a drawdown of less than 60% is not acceptable.

Following on from a commitment in Rebuilding Ireland to ascertain why budgets were not being spent and on foot of a commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government, in 2017 the Housing Agency commissioned a review of capital and current funding for Traveller accommodation programmes for the period 2000-16. The report had regard to the targets contained in the local authority Traveller accommodation programmes, the actual units delivered, the status of the accommodation funded and the funding provided for accommodation maintenance and other supports.

The review of the Traveller accommodation programmes conducted by the Housing Agency identified a number of areas which inhibit the provision of Traveller accommodation. The consultation element of the research identified the planning process as the most significant challenge to local authorities, characterised as objections from local settled residents and political pressure exerted by elected representatives delaying the planning process. This can have a direct impact on the achievement of targets as developments may face extensive delays, leading to the loss of opportunity to utilise funding.

The research also identified, through stakeholder engagement, that the current assessment of need process tends to focus on current need without an effective mechanism of predicting future need. The report recommends greater involvement from local Traveller accommodation consultative committees in needs assessment and target development. Improved consultation between stakeholders will result in realistic targets with regard to both population growth and the pressures on local authority stock, land, funding and planning processes. We often see sites that are over-developed with too many families living on them because this conversation was not had in the first place to work out exactly what the needs are going to be.

The review of the Traveller accommodation programmes was considered by the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee. The NTACC was established by the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 and one of its functions is to advise the Minister of the day, currently me, on matters relating to the provision of Traveller accommodation. The NTACC includes representatives from local authorities, Traveller representative groups and my Department. Following its consideration of the Housing Agency report, the NTACC recommended to me that an independent expert group be established to examine the delivery of Traveller accommodation and to make recommendations on how we can address that. I subsequently established the expert group in September 2018. I would have much preferred to have set up that group much earlier but, for various reasons, it was delayed. We got it set up in September 2018 and we asked it to complete its work in three months. Its request was for six months, which will bring us to April of this year, when we hope to have the report. The overall aim of the group is to review the effectiveness, implementation and operation of legislation and to put forward proposals that will improve delivery. When we discussed it this morning at the housing committee, it was clear everybody across the parties wants increased and improved delivery and it is a question of finding new ways to do that, which is what the group has been asked to do. We are expecting to receive the report in April and we will then have a chance to work on it. My Department will consider any recommendations made by the expert group that have the potential to improve the delivery of Traveller accommodation nationally and help to ensure that full use is made of the increasing level of funding available for investment in Traveller accommodation.

If we can change that system and get the increased expenditure, I have no doubt we can secure the extra money we need to upgrade more facilities and to provide new ones. We will need to work with the expert group to implement the changes it recommends. I get a sense from the housing committee and from talking to individuals across the Houses that there is a desire for improvements. For too long, we have seen money not being spent where it is badly needed. I hope we will be in a much stronger position after April to implement new spending programmes we can stand over and believe in. I have visited many of these sites around the country and they are just not acceptable. They are utterly shocking and the conditions are not on. All of us have a responsibility to change the system to make sure we get an improvement in the provision of accommodation. I am conscious those conversations involve many stakeholders and I do not point the finger at anybody, except to say the system is failing and we have to bring in changes. I am not going to prejudge what the recommendations of the expert group will be, and we will wait a few more weeks until we get the report. However, it would be very welcome to hear any suggestions in the House today. The job of the expert panel was to engage with as many people as it possibly could, certainly with the Traveller representative bodies to get a real picture of what is going on, and also with the local authority sector. We welcome their feedback. Hopefully, we will be in a position in April to move forward. I am happy to come back into the House at that stage to talk more about it, if needs be, and to work with interested Members.