Godfrey Timmins
Question:43 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for the Environment if a census of the number of travellers has been carried out in recent years; and the way in which it compares with numbers 20 and 30 years ago. [473/94]
Written Answers. - Census of Travelling Families.
An annual count of the number of traveller families has been carried out in recent years by local authorities. There were 3,909 traveller families, excluding 192 classified as traders, in November 1993. The report of the travelling people review body in 1983 gives the number of traveller families in June 1961 and October 1974 as 1,036 and 1,690 respectively. In each case, the figures include families living in standard local authority housing, in group housing, and on chalet and halting sites, as well as those on the roadside.