Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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293. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the caravan rental scheme; if there are plans to expand it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55970/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Department received sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) to roll out a pilot Caravan Loan Scheme offering a limited number of preferential and affordable loans for the purchase of residential trailers to Travellers in a select group of local authorities. The scheme is, therefore, not a rental scheme as the mobiles/trailers purchased under this scheme become the property of the loan recipient.

Following consultation with stakeholders including the local authorities, the National Traveller MABS and the Traveller representative organisations a pilot scheme was designed and commenced by my Department in July of 2021 for a trial period of 6 months. The participating local authorities are Cork City Council, Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council and Limerick City and County Council.

Officials from my Department are communicating regularly with the local authorities piloting the scheme and other stakeholders to monitor progress with the pilot scheme. The local authorities are reporting a good level of interest in the pilot scheme from Traveller families at these initial stages. When the pilot phase is complete, officials from my Department will review the operation of the pilot scheme with input from the local authorities and other stakeholders. A report will be prepared for DPER and options for the expansion of the pilot scheme will be considered at the conclusion of this process.