Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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264. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount spent on Traveller housing by each local authority in each of the years from 2019 to 2022, in tabular form. [56231/22]

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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265. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount allocated to each local authority for Traveller housing in each of the years from 2019 to 2022. [56232/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 264 and 265 together.

The Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 provides that 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.

My Department ceased the practice of allocating specific budgets to individual local authorities and implemented a new allocation process following a review of arrangements for the disbursement of funding provision and related supports for Traveller specific accommodation. Since 2020, it is open to all local authorities to apply for and draw down funds at any time throughout the year and this is actively encouraged by my Department. Full spend of the Traveller specific accommodation budget has been achieved in both 2020 and 2021. The Traveller specific accommodation budget for 2022 is €18 million.

Accommodation for Traveller households is provided across a range of housing options including Traveller-specific projects and developments which provide group housing schemes and halting sites. The majority of Travellers live in standard housing, including local authority and Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) housing and Housing Assistance Payments /Rental Assistance Scheme supported tenancies in the private rented sector. Funding for these housing supports are provided through the respective budget lines.