Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Oct 1998

Vol. 495 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Traveller Accommodation.

Mr. Hayes

I regret the Minister with responsibility for this area is not in the House to hear what I have to say. With due respect to the Minister of State, he has no responsibility in this matter.

In May this year, the House passed important and long overdue legislation, the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Bill. It has the support of all parties in the House because it attempts to deal in a co-ordinated way with implementing halting sites and accommodation programmes for the travelling community while also laying down important legal markers in terms of unauthorised sites which are a blot on the landscape of this city and country. It attempts to deal effectively with finding a home for 1,100 travelling families living on the side of the road.

I discovered that, on 11 September, the Minister for State, Deputy Molloy, signed the commencement date for the legislation. To date, the relevant local authorities whose statutory function is to implement this law, have yet to receive the necessary guidelines from the Department of the Environment and Local Government. That is a disgrace. Politicians are attempting to sell this legislation to the community, arguing there is a need for accommodation while, at the same time, saying new legal methods are in place for dealing with unauthorised sites, and are taking difficult and courageous decisions in each case where there is a need for a halting site, while the Department is standing idly by and is not helping local authorities and politicians in the important task which lies ahead. Why is it the case that a law passed in this House has not come into effect three or four months later and more than a month after its date of commencement? Why is the law established by the House not in force in the community? It is not good enough that we are being left to carry the can.

My area of Tallaght has many unauthorised sites within a one mile radius. They are there illegally as a result of the legislation being passed. The local authority does not want to address the issue because it has not received the guidelines from the Department of the Environment and Local Government. That is classic bureaucracy of the worst kind. I want answers as to why this situation has been allowed to develop because if it continues for much longer there will be riots in the streets.

Dr. Moffatt

My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and urban renewal, Deputy Molloy, is unable to be present to respond to this item and he has asked me to do so on his behalf.

The Minister of State with responsibility for housing and urban renewal has made an order bringing into operation all sections of the Act other than sections 6, 19, 20 and 25. However, in order to provide assistance to local authorities in implementing the provisions of the Act, the guidelines to which the Deputy refers are currently being finalised by the Department of the Environment and Local Government and are expected to issue to local authorities shortly. These draft guidelines are being prepared following consultation with local authorities, traveller organisations and the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Group. This process reflects the importance of consultation which is provided for in the new Act and ensures that the guidelines will contain comprehensive advice to housing authorities on their obligations under the Act.

The guidelines will deal with matters such as the consultation process to be entered into with various interested parties, the preparation, adoption, implementation and review of accommodation programmes, powers of local authorities to control unauthorised temporary dwellings and issues of estate management. The guidelines will also incorporate ministerial directions under a number of sections of the Act. It is also intended that the guidelines on the implementation of the Act will be accompanied by other guidelines, drawn up under section 29, covering the design, provision and management of permanent residential caravan parks and the provision of emergency or temporary services and facilities, pending the provision of permanent accommodation.

Following the issuing of the guidelines, the Department of the Environment and Local Government in association with the housing unit of the Institute of Public Administration will be arranging a series of seminars for local authority housing officers to discuss with them the requirements of the Act.

Mr. Hayes

Future tense.

Dr. Moffatt

This will ensure that they will be fully briefed and it will facilitate an exchange of information with a view to identifying best practice.

As I have already stated, most sections of the Act have now been commenced. Accordingly the legislative basis is now in place for housing authorities to make a planned and comprehensive response to the accommodation needs of travellers. Many local authorities have already begun the process of implementing the Act. Local authorities have, of course, considerable experience in providing accommodation for travellers and I expect that authorities will, in advance of accommodation programmes being put in place, continue to avail of existing schemes to meet the current demands.

One of the issues widely raised is the problem encountered by local authorities in trying to deal with unauthorised encampments of temporary dwellings. The position is that the Act restates the existing powers available and used by local authorities in this regard and provides for a greater degree of flexibility in their use. Furthermore, additional powers are contained in the Act to deal with unauthorised temporary dwellings within one mile of existing accommodation, regardless of whether alternative accommodation is available. I expect that, in accordance with the Act, as accommodation programmes are implemented the number of such unauthorised encampments will decrease.

I am confident that the new Act, accompanied by the guidelines to be issued shortly, will provide a new impetus and a more focused approach to meeting the accommodation needs of travellers in a spirit of greater understanding on the part of local authorities, travellers and the public.