Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 386: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status and membership of the high level officials group on traveller issues; the efforts being made to ensure that there is, and will continue to, be inclusion of Traveller organisations in the work of the HLOG at both national and local levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26825/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The High Level Group on Traveller Issues was established in December 2003 at the request of the Taoiseach. Its role is to ensure that the relevant statutory agencies involved in providing the full range of services to Travellers, would focus on improving the practical delivery of such services. The High Level Group is a working group under the Senior Officials' Group on Social Inclusion which, in turn, reports to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion. The High Level Group is chaired by Minister of State Fahey and includes members of the Senior Officials' Group and other senior public servants with responsibility for key areas of service delivery for Travellers. The High Level Group is intended to provide a forum for senior policy makers and service providers to meet to discuss barriers to service delivery and explore possibilities of approaching service delivery in a more integrated way. In this regard, the Group is considered as an extension of the Strategic Management Initiative process, an attempt to join up service delivery and to ensure that intended service outcomes for Travellers under the various sectoral strategies are achieved. The Report of the High Level Group was published in March 2006 following approval by the Government. The Report contains a total of 59 conclusions and recommendations across the full spectrum of public service activity relating specifically to the Traveller Community.

Traveller Organisations are represented at national level on a number of sectoral consultative fora. In addition the Traveller Monitoring Committee, (TMC) chaired by my Department and including representatives of Traveller Organisations worked to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force on the Travelling Community (1995). Following publication of the TMC's Second Progress Report in December 2005 it was decided to re-constitute the committee to support an effective ongoing interaction at national level between state bodies and representatives of the Traveller Community. My Department is in touch with the national Traveller Organisations in this regard.

At local level, Traveller interagency groups are being established under the aegis of County and City Development Boards, in line with the recommendations of the High Level Group. An essential part of this work is meaningful consultation with local Travellers and this issue is emphasised in the High Level Group Report. The development of the interagency approach is being monitored by the High Level Group as part of its ongoing work.

Details of the membership of the High Level Group are in the following table.