Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 6 Nov 2001

Vol. 543 No. 2

Written Answers. - Traveller Accommodation.

Austin Deasy

Question:

125 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when he expects to be in a position to provide efficient halting sites on a uniform basis to cater for all of the transient Travellers in the country; and the sanctions he is taking against local authorities which failed to fulfill their obligations in this regard. [26277/01]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy):

The Housing (Traveller Accommo-

dation) Act, 1998, requires local authorities in carrying out the statutory assessment of needs under section 9 of the Housing Act, 1988, to include a separate assessment for the needs for caravan sites for Travellers. The assessment must include the assessment of need for sites with limited facilities, normally referred to as transient sites, to take account of the annual pattern of movement of Travellers.

Under the 1998 Act, each local authority is required to have regard to the need for transient sites as identified in its assessment of need in preparing its Traveller accommodation programme. The majority of programmes indicate that provision will be made for transient sites. Standards for transient sites were included in the guidelines for accommodating transient Traveller families which were issued by my Department in June 2001.

My Department has recently written to all relevant local authorities stressing the need to progress implementation of all aspects of the accommodation programme, including the provision of transient facilities, and requesting that local authorities consult with adjoining authorities to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the provision of transient sites. My Department will be following up with local authorities to ensure progress in the provision of transient facilities, as part of its ongoing monitoring of progress in the implementation of the programmes generally.

My Department will also prepare, in conjunction with the national Traveller accommodation consultative committee, a protocol which will govern the management and operation of the sites by local authorities and the use of the sites by Traveller families.

While a provision is included in the Local Government Act, 2001, enabling the Minister to reduce or withhold any grant or any other money due or otherwise payable to a local authority where it has failed or substantially failed to comply with a statutory duty, I have no proposal at this stage to resort to this power in relation to the provision of Traveller accommodation.