Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I thank the Minister for State for taking the time to listen to Senators speak on accommodation issues that are impacting on the Traveller community. Many local authorities have failed to deliver appropriate cultural accommodation for the Traveller community. In Ireland we have our own humanitarian crisis, that is, the living conditions of the Traveller community in 21st century Ireland. Now is the time for action.

The lack of appropriate accommodation and supports for the Traveller community is well-documented. Money has been allocated to local authorities for Traveller accommodation and in many cases it is not being spent. I cannot understand how this continues to happen year after year. Since the Traveller accommodation programme began in 2000, there has been an underspend of nearly €69 million. That is the figure that has not been drawn down.That does not include the €8 million underspend for this year alone. I would appreciate a detailed explanation from the Government as to why this continues to happen and why people from my community continue to live in appalling accommodation and living conditions.

Over the life of the Traveller accommodation programme, living conditions for the Traveller community have not improved. If anything, they have got worse in terms of people being evicted from halting sites at the side of the road and told to move along. Why are local authorities continuing to fail in their delivery of the targets they set every five years when they look at their programmes for the Traveller community? There is such a low target yet they continue to fail in delivering on them. I wish to highlight the need to establish a dedicated Traveller accommodation authority with an appropriate budget as a priority, which was recommended in the report of the expert review group on Traveller accommodation in July 2019.

I also want the Minister to take into account the significant impact of Covid-19. I respect that he mentioned that already but let us get real. Before Covid-19, Traveller accommodation was appalling for members of the Traveller community. Travellers are an extremely vulnerable group given the higher rate in the community of chronic and at-risk conditions. I raise a specific concern for Traveller children living on the side of the road during the pandemic who do not have basic facilities. At the peak of the pandemic, I learned of a family in the south west, including a pregnant mother who was using a paddling pool to hygienically clean the caravan. In 2020, she was using a paddling pool for that purpose.

I have been getting calls from people across the country, from Derry to Kerry, about their living conditions. People in my community are desperate for appropriate accommodation. For many Travellers, a trailer or a caravan is a home. We have been forced to settle. Members of the Traveller community are 20 times more likely to suffer discrimination when looking for private rented accommodation.

I want to acknowledge the work of the previous Minister of State, Deputy English, who allocated supports to local authorities for basic sanitation services such as access to water and toilets for Travellers most in need during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sadly, it is a shameful reflection on local authorities' lack of duty of care to the Traveller community that their basic needs still have not been met.

I learned in May of a mother and a medically vulnerable child who live with 12 other family members in a seriously overcrowded home. The woman has been on the housing list for several years. There are many such cases throughout the country yet in the year to date, only 45% of the budget for that area was drawn down nationally. What is the reason for that when the need is so great? As I said, to many Travellers a trailer or a caravan is a home. We have been forced into substandard accommodation, which is not fair. It is not Traveller culturally appropriate accommodation.

I have said that Travellers are 22 times more likely to suffer discrimination and racism when looking for private rented accommodation. This is Ireland in 2020 and Travellers are still seen as less.We are seen as less anyway but when it comes to accommodation, we are seen as even less again. I understand that the Government is drawing down money and that it is trying its best. Why are local authorities not drawing down this money for the Traveller community? I understand that it is very tough to build a halting site because the general population does not want a halting site or the land is too vulnerable for Traveller communities but we are people. I was born and reared on a halting site in Ballyfermot. Look at me. I am still part of the Labre Park community, which is the oldest official halting site in Ireland. I know that to local authorities, we are just seen as "them" - the Traveller community. In this State, we should be treated with dignity and respect and have basic human rights when it comes to accommodation and facilities that help and support us, be it a trailer or however people choose to live.