As the recommendations contained in the report of the Task Force on the Travelling Community impact on a wide range of policy areas which are the responsibility of a number of Ministers, the Government established an interdepartmental working group to consider its implementation.
The report of the interdepartmental working group was considered by Government on 26 March 1996 and a strategy was approved as a response to the report of the task force.
This Government strategy contained a range of initiatives which included the setting up of a special unit in the Department of the Environment to monitor the implementation of the five-year strategy for traveller accommodation put forward by the Minister for the Environment. It approved in principle, inter alia, the construction of 3,100 units of traveller accommodation and the proposals put forward by the Departments of Health and Education in the context of the report of the interdepartmental working wroup. The timing and phasing of the implementation of the elements of the Government strategy would be agreed with the Minister for Finance.
What is necessary now, and what I understand is happening, is that relevant Departments are finalising plans of action with the object of securing the financial allocations necessary to implement their respective elements of the Government strategy. While it is a matter for each Minister to evaluate progress in the areas for which he or she is responsible, I will, of course, maintain an active interest in how the implementation process develops. I am committed to the achievement of the targets contained in the Government strategy relating to the report of the Task Force on the Travelling Community.