Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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508. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of traveller-specific accommodation funding returned to his Department, per county, in tabular form, for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. [33872/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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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 local authorities in providing accommodation for Travellers, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding. The Act provides that housing authorities have statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller Accommodation Programmes (TAPs) in their areas.

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.

The Traveller-specific accommodation budget was fully drawn down by local authorities in the five-year period 2020-2024, amounting to over €100 million capital expenditure.