Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1120: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount of money allocated to a local authority (details supplied) in County Mayo by his Department. [20113/07]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department allocated €1 million to Mayo County Council for spending in 2007 on the provision of Traveller-specific accommodation. A total of €382,000 has been recouped to date. Over the period of the Council's second Traveller Accommodation Programme, 2005 — 2008, over €1.7 million was paid to Mayo County Council in respect of Traveller-specific accommodation. A further €1.09m was spent by the Council under the 2000 -2004 Programme. There is no detailed information available in my Department in relation to the amount spent by Mayo County Council on accommodation provided for Travellers under the Council's main social housing programme.

Funding provided under the current Traveller Accommodation Programme has allowed the Council to progress a number of schemes including the construction of 7 new group houses and the purchase of one single instance house. In addition to families accommodated in standard local authority housing, this has contributed to an overall decrease in the number of families on unauthorised sites in the county from 43 families at the start of the Programme to 27 at the end of 2006.