Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 June 2004
184 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will take steps to ensure that there is a legal obligation on local authorities to provide adequate accommodation for Travellers living on halting sites when they are not in a position to provide accommodation from their own resources, particularly when they are unable to repay a local authority loan. [16998/04]
View answer197 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that local authorities do not believe there is an obligation on them to provide accommodation to members of the Traveller community; if his attention has further been drawn to the number of disabled children who are living in completely substandard caravans due to the view of local authorities that the only obligation on them is to provide basic halting sites; and if he will take steps to ensure that there is a legal obligation on local authorities to provide adequate accommodation for Travellers living on halting sites when they are not in a position to provide accommodation from their own resources, particularly when they are unable to repay a local authority loan, which may be all that is available to them for the purpose of acquiring a home. [17099/04]
View answer
I propose to take Questions Nos. 184 and 197 together.
All relevant local authorities have been made aware that under the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, they were required to prepare, adopt, and take any reasonable steps necessary to implement five year Traveller accommodation programmes to cover the period 2000 to 2004. All relevant local authorities adopted such programmes and are in the process of implementing them. Local authorities are required to prepare and adopt a new programme to take effect from the expiry of the existing programmes.
On the facilities to be provided on halting sites, there are adequate arrangements in place to address the issue of special needs. One of a series of guidelines on Traveller specific accommodation developed with the assistance of the national Traveller accommodation consultative committee and issued to local authorities by my Department in October 1997, outlined the facilities to be provided on residential caravan parks for Travellers. These guidelines were issued to assist local authorities in providing a reasonable standard of facilities on halting sites and set out guiding principles on selecting suitable sites, formulating a design brief, making arrangements for site maintenance and management, and meeting fire, safety and emergency requirements. Local authorities are also required to take into account as far as possible my Department's guidelines on social housing generally. These guidelines stress the need for consultation with the relevant families and the identification at an early stage of any special needs to be met, which can be addressed in the design process.
As well as providing 100% capital funding for the provision of new accommodation to meet these standards, my Department also provides funding to local authorities to upgrade existing substandard halting sites to a modern standard. Local authorities are also required to take account of the guidelines in formulating proposals for such refurbishments. Further assistance is available to Traveller families under the terms of the scheme of loans and grants for the purchase of caravans by Travellers. Under that scheme, both the local authority and the applicant must satisfy themselves that the caravan to be purchased represents value for money, and that it meet the needs of the Traveller household concerned, before the loan is sanctioned. A number of local authorities have in place schemes for the replacement of caravans in emergency situations. My Department has, in exceptional cases, agreed to fund the provision of mobile homes where the circumstances of a particular case warrant such assistance.
