Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 483: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the status of the implementation of Traveller accommodation plans; the number living in unserviced halting sites or by the roadside; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35579/08]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Since the enactment of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act in 1998, local authorities have adopted two successive Traveller accommodation programmes. In the course of the first programmes, covering the five-year period 2000 to 2004, some 1,371 additional Traveller families were provided with permanent, secure accommodation. This included some 586 units of Traveller-specific accommodation including halting sites and group housing. Over the same period there was a 50% reduction in the number of families living on unauthorised sites, down from 1,207 at the start of the programmes to 601 families at their completion.

Significant progress is being made under the second Traveller accommodation programmes, covering the four-year period 2005 to 2008. At end 2007, some 1,156 additional units of accommodation were provided, of which 297 were Traveller-specific.

The most recent annual count of Traveller families, taken in November 2007, showed a total of 8,099 families nationally, an increase of 42% since the first Traveller accommodation programmes began in 2000. The number of Traveller families living on unauthorised sites in November 2007 was 594. This includes 364 families located on un-serviced sites on the roadside, in private gardens/fields or other property.