Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not an expert on Travellers' rights but I deeply care about equal rights and opportunities and I am willing to learn from the experience of people in the Chamber. I grew up close to a halting site in west Dublin, living for over ten years with a halting site 200 m away from my house. We were all good neighbours. I would like if all communities could be the same way. From an early age, where I grew up in County Tyrone, I was taught to respect difference and to know that deep down, we all want the same thing, which is to belong, to feel accepted and that one person's identity is just as important as that of another person. It is not always as straightforward as that, unfortunately, and I do not want to oversimplify the challenges. I served on Fingal County Council's Traveller consultative committee before I was appointed a Senator. I want to mention the good work of the Blanchardstown Traveller development groups in Dublin 15. Fingal is one of the councils that outspent its allocation for Traveller accommodation of €13 million provided by the then Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.The council has been allocated €13.5 million for Traveller accommodation for the next three years under the capital plan. I hope that will be delivered.

The relationships between Travellers, local authorities and communities can be complex, but this is an issue of welfare, human rights and building inclusive communities. Whatever the accommodation is, it should be provided in a culturally appropriate way so that Travellers have quality housing, better facilities and good environmental conditions.

The Traveller accommodation expert review concluded that "the arrangements established by the 1998 Act have significant strengths and have enabled the delivery of significant amounts of accommodation for Travellers, but they have failed to meet the full scale of accommodation need among this community." The review covered the effects of homelessness, overcrowding, inconsistency of standards, varying rates of delivery, the degree of satisfaction with Traveller-specific accommodation and the over-reliance on the private rental system to address shortages. There is a great deal of information in the expert review, including 32 recommendations. I will not go through them all, but I will summarise. The expert group focused primarily on what was working and not working, but not on why. That is what the Seanad is focusing on in this debate. I cannot understate the importance of building relationships proactively and positively and of on-the-ground leadership at every level of the system.

In March, the Minister of State, Deputy English, provided supports in respect of toilets, running water and so on because of Covid. Will they be retained? There is some concern that they will not be.