Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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698. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to ensure that the housing needs of the Traveller community are met by local authorities; his plans to ensure that existing funding is fully drawn down and utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18693/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, the role of my Department is to ensure that there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist housing authorities in providing accommodation for Travellers, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding.

The Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998 requires each housing authority to develop, adopt and implement 5-year rolling accommodation programmes to accelerate the provision of accommodation for Travellers. The 5th round of Traveller Accommodation Programmes (TAP) began in July 2019, covering the 5-year period from 1st July 2019 until 30th June 2024.

TAP targets and outputs include figures for delivery of accommodation for Travellers across the range of accommodation options available to Travellers and is not limited to Traveller-specific accommodation. A mid-term review is due to take place at the end of 2021.

Following a review of the arrangements for the disbursement of funding for the provision and related supports of Traveller specific accommodation a new allocation process was implemented for 2020. My Department has ceased the practice of allocating specific budgets to individual local authorities. Instead, it is open to all local authorities to apply for and drawdown funds at any time throughout the year and this is actively encouraged by my Department. In 2020, my Department’s capital budget of €14.5 million for Traveller Accommodation was drawn down in full. Officials from my Department will continue to work with local authorities and approved housing bodies throughout 2021 to support and facilitate the development of high quality Traveller specific accommodation projects.