Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

What the Minister of State is presenting as the solution has been clearly identified as the problem by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community, the Traveller Oireachtas group and other organisations. To talk about funding and the levels of funding when the funding has been consistently unused or under used is entirely hypothetical. To suggest that the Travellers will be in this separate framework where we can think about how we can accommodate them denotes the lack of actual thinking about each person needing appropriate shelter. It is reflected in many things. I will not go into housing for all. This scheme failed to plan in any way for the fact and reality that we knew at the time migrants and asylum seekers would be coming to Ireland from Ukraine and other places. This effectively said that we would plan for a small subsection of the population. What we see here is that we will have a national planning framework and local development plans. Then on the side, with whatever bits or scraps of land that might be left over, when we have planned out how we will use our shared space on this island, we will think about accommodating some Travellers and let every battle happen at local level and every individual council come up with excuse after excuse for not spending its money. That is what has been continuing to happen. To say there is any victory or positive news; there really is not. There was a chance to say that this national ethnic minority is part of our national planning framework and part of the Minister's statements, which are an essential part of local development planning. That has been declined. This is not directed at the Minister of State personally but we need to be really clear that this is what has happened.