I am grateful for the opportunity to raise on the Adjournment the manner in which the policy framework and guidelines for best practice regarding Traveller accommodation, as per the standards set down by the national Traveller accommodation unit of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, are being implemented in general and specifically in County Clare, the monitoring mechanisms for compliance with these standards and the procedures to be taken when they are ignored or breached. I am not talking about compliance with local planning but about compliance with the standards set down by the national Traveller accommodation unit of the Department. I also wish to ask about the Department's compliance with its own standards and what procedures are in place when they are breached.
For years I have been trying to get something done about the scandalous condition of the transit accommodation for Travellers in Carrowbrowne on the Headford Road but the attitude among the local authorities responsible and others is that it is perfectly acceptable to have broken windows and tiles. They give the impression that there is no point doing anything different. This question is not answered by saying it is a matter for the local authorities. It is a matter for the Department and the Minister. It is a disgrace to the Parliament.
What do I mean by saying the local authority departs from the standards laid down by the Department's unit? I mean that a local authority has not produced a design brief, that it has not had consultation with the prospective tenants or occupants, that the council's policies do not embody inclusion and the social circumstances of the people who will occupy the accommodation and that the designs in regard to the surrounding area are not a matter of consultation with those who will live in the accommodation being provided. I also mean it specifically with regard to such practical matters as the thickness and height of walls, the attempts at exclusion and the hiding of accommodation from view.
What does the Department do when the designs on offer do not comply with the minimum best practice standards in the Department but are argued to have complied with the lesser and different standards within the planning process? What does it do when the houses do not meet tenants' requirements or are frequently built with toxic and non-environmentally sensitive building materials? What does it do when the houses have very little space around them or when some have thick, high reinforced boundary walls? What does it do when there is an obsession with hiding the accommodation from public view or when little attempt is made to take account of cultural integration or relationships between Travellers and those in the settled community? Why does the Department correctly vet the standards applicable to a social housing scheme or a pre-school but does not do so with regard to the proposals made by way of design for the kind of accommodation I mention? Is it so different or of less value to warrant this approach? What do these different standards tell us?
Who is responsible for the design and the accommodation in these circumstances? What if construction goes ahead on the basis of an appreciation that some accommodation is better than none? How can we justify lesser standards, lesser accountability, lesser monitoring and no attempt to deliver the provisions in accordance with the standards set by the Department? These dwellings breach social housing standards, most of the Department's criteria on site selection and all of the procedures on consultation.
Some of those interested in these issues have written to the Taoiseach, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. They have received an acknowledgement that the matter is under investigation but have received no answer to any of the questions I have raised.
