Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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316. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the minimum distance limit between accommodation units on temporary Traveller halting sites. [9090/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Section 8.14 of the Guidelines for Traveller Accommodation - Basic Services and Facilities for Caravans Pending the Provision of Permanent Accommodation (1998), as provided for under section 29 of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, sets out that, generally, there should be a minimum separation distance of 6m between caravans and 9m between a caravan and a building or other structure. These distances may be reduced by the use of suitably located screen walls which can provide a barrier to the spread of fire. These distance guidelines apply to caravans in temporary or permanent residential caravan parks for Travellers. Also, the location of caravans should be such as to reduce the risk of fire between caravans and a building, or from a building to a caravan.

My Department initiated a Programme to Review Fire Safety in Traveller Accommodation in December 2015. A working draft “Guide to Fire Safety in existing Traveller Accommodation” was developed to assist local authorities in carrying out the Review. The Guide, which brings together relevant fire safety information, advice, guidance and fire safety standards applicable to existing Traveller accommodation into a single reference document, restates that, in general, the recommended layouts of sites are to provide a minimum of 6 metres separation between each caravan to prevent fire spread.

The above-mentioned Guidelines are available from my Department’s website at-