Vol. 406 No. 2
9 Mr. Kavanagh asked the Minister for the Environment if he has any plans to delegate responsibilities for travelling people to enable either of his junior Ministers to devote themselves on a full-time basis to this responsibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
My responsibilities in relation to travelling people extend to the policy aspects and financing of the accommodation programme and I have no plans to delegate these. Other aspects of the welfare of travelling people are the responsibility of other Ministers of the Government. The Minister for Health exercises a general co-ordinating role in relation to travelling people and their general welfare, and the committee to monitor the implementation of government policy in relation to travelling people operates under his aegis.
The Minister is well aware that it is his responsibility to provide housing and halting sites and that is the reason I ask this question. The Minister has not only done nothing for this most deprived section of our community but he has reversed decisions which would have helped these people. We know that the provision of housing and halting sites has come to a complete stop since he took office and this is the reason I have asked that he hand over responsibility for this to a more caring Minister — perhaps the Minister on our right who has taken certain matters in hand in that Department. Would the Minister ever do that for these people because we cannot afford, and they certainly cannot afford, to wait any longer under the Minister's tenancy in the Department of the Environment, which has been a disaster not only in this area but in every area for which the Minister has responsibility.
Let the Minister of State respond.
I wish that she would be able to respond.
It is not your form, Deputy Kavanagh, so I will attempt to give you the benefit of my silence on the memories of your jurisdiction in the Custom House.
I do not need to worry.
They stand up to comparison with yours any day.
I will go along to the Ard Fhéis and discuss that with you.
There will be lots of space.
Press conferences and PR, but no action.
The Deputies will be aware that under the programme I announced £3 million is available for the provision of a service halting site.
"Scrap Saturday".
Certainly, I would be supportive of Members of the House in saying that we should improve on the situation that currently exists. I would be very happy to support the initiative that is referred to, the provision of extra halting sites. With a view to trying to speed up the process I took the opportunity only last week to meet with all the county managers and their housing officers——
That does not answer my question.
——and discussed the whole question of housing, with particular reference during one session to the question of the provision of suitable accommodation for travellers. In fact, I have asked that I be given quarterly reports on the progress in that area of activity. I am taking a personal interest in it and I am satisfied that we are going to see some good progress in that area in the immediate future.
Will it be possible to call another question?
If the House so desire I will be happy to call another question, but time is effectively up.
Is the Minister aware that the largest local authority in the country, Dublin County Council, have recently had to revise their 1986 programme for the settlement of travellers because many of the sites are not now available? In view of the slow rate of progress of the local authorities in settling travellers, does the Minister have any plans to take responsibility for the identification and development of sites directly through his own Department?
In recognising the particular difficulty that exists in Dublin and its environs, I took the opportunity of discussing the matter with the management as well and I understand certain initiatives will be taken by the authorities in that regard. I would like to point out to Deputies that any initiative you take in these areas is only successful if you have the support of the elected local representatives, and that is where it should rest.
The Minister would want to talk to his own councillors.
It is for that reason over the past few months, and in the recent past particularly, that I have sought an opportunity to discuss it personally with the people in charge. Last week I also took the opportunity to discuss it with the travellers' own organisations. We are starting a new initiative and I am addressing it personally. I am satisfied we will have good progress and that the House will wish me luck in that regard.
The Minister should talk to his own councillors.
We have had personal experience in County Louth. Dundalk Urban District Council led the way in the north east area. It has taken a great length of time to get sanction from Drogheda Corporation for a halting site. There are 40 or 50 travelling families living around that town. Is it not about time that the Minister gave a direction to the managers, because it is the manager's reserved function and not the elected representatives function? The decision is vested in the county manager and they must and should get a direction from the Minister to provide halting sites.
The Deputy will be aware that reserved functions are not just for local elected representatives.
This is reserved to the manager, and the Minister knows it.
What I am saying is that on a recent visit to Deputy Bell's county, I visited one of the halting sites.
It is a pity I did not meet the Minister because I could have shown him real black spots.
I wish Deputy Bell had been there but he will probably get an opportunity to do so in the not too distant future. Having visited one of the traveller sites there, I have to say that very good work has been done and it could be repeated in some counties where there has been very little action. I was taking an opportunity in the last month or two to visit some of the existing sites to talk things over with the groups not just locally but with the national organisations representatives of the travellers to find out precisely what direction they wish to go, and we are getting a consensus now. There is no shortage of money available to the Minister to satisfy any requirements in this regard.
I have been asked to deal with No. 10, if the House so agrees.
