Colette Kelleher (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for attending today.

I welcome the commissioning of the review by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government into funding for Traveller-specific accommodation and the implementation of the Traveller accommodation programmes. It followed a very useful meeting that we had, and I thank the Minister for acting upon that. I understand that the housing agency report has been complete since July but it remains unpublished, and I rely on leaked information from TheIrish Times article published on 14 September which reported that Traveller accommodation targets have not been fully met at any point since they were made mandatory on local authorities 18 years ago. The article in TheIrish Times goes on to say that the leaked report concludes that anti-Traveller prejudice at local authority level may be hampering progress. If the intention of Government policy and the current legislation is that targets for Traveller accommodation would be met in full and that things would improve it is clearly failing. It is failing Traveller women, children and men. The report commissioned by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government finds that more than €55 million provided for Traveller housing remains unspent since 2000, and just 68% of promised Traveller accommodation units have been provided. All the while, Travellers continue to live in shocking conditions, which I have seen myself at first hand.

There is unacceptable overcrowding on halting sites. Figures from the Department show that the number of Traveller families in need of accommodation since 2000 has more than doubled. In this new leaked report, local authorities agreed that overcrowding was an issue, leading to health and safety concerns. All stakeholder groups agreed that the future assessment of the needs for Traveller families was unfit for purpose. The second anniversary of those who died in the Carrickmines fire is coming up. More people will die in tragedies if these concerns are not addressed. People will continue to live shorter lives and suffer from housing related ill-health. I ask the Minister of State what will be done about all of that.

According to the 2016 census, the Traveller homelessness rate is 11 times higher than the general population. In the last five years the rate of Traveller homelessness has tripled.

The leaked report also finds that the private rented accommodation provisions are extremely difficult for Traveller families to access. Often discrimination and prejudice are getting in the way. People are rejected based on their names alone. It is a landlord's market, as the Minister of State knows, yet some local authorities use private rented accommodation as the alternative to staying on waiting list for Travellers seeking access to Traveller-specific accommodation. Figures show a rise from 162 families in 2002 to 2,222 in 2016. This has rendered increasing numbers of families homeless, further fuelling the crisis. Most Traveller-specific housing and social housing in general is provided by local authorities using the Part VIII planning process but the leaked report further found that the most significant obstacle to the delivery of Traveller accommodation is the planning process itself, particularly objections from settled residents and elected representatives, as the Minister of State well knows.

I note and welcome the Minister's decision to review the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998. However, there must also be a review of legislation that affects Travellers in order to alleviate the crisis. For example, the recent amendment to the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016, which facilitated developments of more 100 accommodation units being dealt with directly by An Bord Pleanála without going through local planning processes, could also include Traveller accommodation. Legislation should be introduced immediately to implement this change and decisions to approve specific proposals for Traveller-specific accommodation should be taken away from the local political system and invested in An Bord Pleanála.

There is, at best, systemic apathy and, at worst, prejudice in terms of meeting the accommodation of Travellers. An indication of the apathy towards Travellers and their accommodation is reflected in the participation in this leaked review, as the Minister of State knows, where only 26 out of the 31 local authorities responded to the survey and only 22 submitted with sufficient detail across all questions. Significant gaps were found in local authority reporting and inadequate data-keeping. In some cases, there were no standardised recording, reporting and monitoring mechanisms. Indeed the deadline for reporting to the Housing Agency, which the Minister commissioned, was extended twice to facilitate poor responses. Will the Minister of State tell us when the Housing Agency review will be published and his plans to address the issue raised in the report and the major crisis for Travellers and their housing needs?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Kelleher for providing me with the opportunity to update the House on the Traveller accommodation programme, TAP, review which was recently completed and provided to the national Traveller accommodation committee, NTACC. A Programme for a Partnership Government commits to establishing a special working group to audit the current delivery and implementation of local authorities' Traveller accommodation plans and consult stakeholders on key areas of concern. This commitment was underpinned in Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness which provided for the commissioning by the Housing Agency, on behalf of the Department, of an expert, independent review of expenditure on and delivery of Traveller accommodation to underpin the work of the special working group.

In 2016, the Housing Agency commissioned the review, which examined capital and current funding for Traveller-specific accommodation for the period 2000 to date, having regard to the targets contained in the local authority TAPs and actual units delivered. It also examined the current status of the accommodation funded and the funding provided for accommodation maintenance and other supports. Where targets in the TAPs have not been met, the review included an analysis of the underlying reasons to identify the particular challenges that need to be addressed to underpin future progress.

The final report was completed and submitted to the Housing Agency in June and it, in turn, submitted the final report to my Department in July. It was circulated to the NTACC members, considered by a subgroup of the NTACC and discussed at the most recent meeting of the NTACC on 28 August. At this meeting, the NTACC agreed to advise me to establish an expert group to examine and make recommendations on issues regarding Traveller accommodation policy, strategy and implementation. This is in keeping with the commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government, and I have agreed to proceed with the establishment of this expert group. I have also agreed that a review of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 should be part of the work of the expert group. The composition and terms of reference and methodology of this expert group are being formulated with a view to it being in place as soon as possible. My Department is making arrangements for the recently completed review to be made available on the Department's website within the next week.

Colette Kelleher (Independent)
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I have two questions. One of them was answered by the Minister of State, namely, when the report be published. It will be published within the next week. I will monitor that and look forward to seeing that report. I welcome the expert group. While the expert group is welcome, it cannot be a delaying tactic or a way of kicking this urgent issue to touch. Over the past 18 years since the legislation was introduced, the targets have never been fully met. Local authorities are sending money back. They are not even making their returns to the review. I would like to hear more specifics from the Minister of State, and not simply the date when the review will be published, which is welcome, and the establishment of an expert group. I would like to know some specifics in terms of what the Minister of State is going to do about this urgent issue for Traveller families, an issue that is a matter of life and death for families.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Senator that it is not a delaying tactic. I only inherited this role a few months ago. There is no agreement on the best way to spend this money. I am not happy in the same way as the Senator is not happy that the money is not being spent where it should be. There are accommodation issues. The budget has increased over the past year. We made sure of that as well. My job as Minister of State is to make sure it is spent.

I will not comment on the review because it is not published yet. I will have no problem commenting on it when it is published next week but, as a habit, I do not comment on leaked documents. We can discuss it in greater detail when it is published next week. Again, it highlights many of the issues that need to be addressed. We must find ways of spending this money. When the committee agrees who will be on the expert commission, I hope it involve some international experts to find ways of making sure we honour our commitments because it is a priority for Government. We are putting the money back in where it should be. I agree with the Senator that if one analyses many of the local authority waiting lists, one sees there is a difficulty for people from Traveller backgrounds, so we need to address that. Likewise, they have different issues as well. Some of them want to live in different places, so we need to accommodate that as best we can. There is no excuse for money not being spent. Along with the review and the report of the commission, I will try to engage with local authorities to make sure the money is spent this year and the year ahead.