Traveller Accommodation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 December 2013

Thursday, 5 December 2013

Questions (5)

Mick Wallace

Question:

5. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if, in view of the €50 million underspend by local authorities on Traveller accommodation discussed at committee level in May and the current crisis in Traveller accommodation, he will now exercise his powers, under section 111 of the Housing Act 1966, to order local authorities to perform these housing functions within a specified period; in the event of non-compliance, if he will invest himself with those powers of performance; and if not, if he will set out his plans to sort out Traveller accommodation with just €3 million for 34 councils in 2014. [52159/13]

Oral answers (6 contributions)

Deputy Mick Wallace

The State has failed the Traveller community and probably never more so than over the past few years with austerity. In light of the €50 million underspend by local authorities on Traveller accommodation, will the Minister exercise his powers under section 111 of the Housing Act 1966 to order local authorities to perform their housing functions within a specific period of time, or invest himself with the powers to make it happen?

Deputy Phil Hogan

In accordance with the provisions of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller accommodation programmes designed to address these needs rests with individual housing authorities. The Department pays up to 100% of the cost of providing and maintaining Traveller-specific accommodation, designed to meet the needs of Traveller families.

The vast majority of Traveller families have opted for, and are accommodated in, standard housing provided by local authorities and financed under my Department's housing programme, or in private rented accommodation with rent supplement support. It is open to Travellers to opt for any form of accommodation, and local authority Traveller accommodation programmes are intended to reflect these preferences.

Over the past ten years, €282 million was paid to housing authorities from a capital budget of €343 million, amounting to about 80% of the available funding, resulting in a quantifiable improvement in the standard of living of Travellers. In 1999, prior to the first Traveller accommodation programme, the number of Traveller families was estimated at 4,790. Approximately 25% of these families then lived on unauthorised sites. Last year's annual count of Travellers identified a total of 9,991 families in the State. Notwithstanding the doubling of the numbers since 1999, only 3.3% of families were living on unauthorised sites in 2012. That said, more remains to be done, and I expect the next round of the Traveller accommodation programme for the period 2014 to 2018 will address this need.

There are robust monitoring procedures already in place and I have no plans to change the existing arrangements for the delivery of Traveller-specific housing. The national Traveller accommodation consultative committee, comprised of Traveller representatives, local authority elected members and officials, an official from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and an independent chair, is specifically tasked with overseeing the implementation of Traveller accommodation programmes and with advising me on policy or any particular issue which the committee feels should be brought to my attention.

My Department will continue to review progress by housing authorities in adopting their new programmes in 2014 and in implementing the strategies contained in these programmes. Housing authorities will also be required to carry out a mid-term review of their programmes and to identify obstacles to delivery and ways of overcoming these.

Deputy Mick Wallace

The State's efforts in this whole area have been toothless and ineffective. The Minister spoke about private accommodation being available to Travellers. Since the recession, the State has reduced capital spending for construction of social housing for all people, sending people into the private rental market and expecting them to organise housing through that means. This causes major problems for members of the Traveller community because they do not have the same access to the private rental market that settled people have. Even among marginalised groups Travellers are at the bottom of the pile, and much of the time they end up living in sub-standard accommodation that no one else will take and in locations where there are no facilities. If, as many people would argue, we think we have problems with the Traveller community, they are of our own making. We are not doing enough to integrate them into normal society. The Government's policies discriminate against this marginalised group.

Deputy Phil Hogan

I do not agree with Deputy Wallace, because the position on the ground is clearly different from he has said. The position is clearly evident in the results of the 2011 assessment of housing needs. Of the 1,824 families on the housing list at that time, 1,789 opted for a standard house while only 18 opted for a bay on a halting site. Six families opted for group housing. Local authorities are doing everything they possibly can for Travellers in the same way as they are for any other group on the housing list in order to get them standard housing accommodation. If Traveller representative groups disagree with any of these conclusions, they have an opportunity through the national Traveller accommodation consultative committee to bring forward evidence that this not the case. I would certainly be prepared to review the situation if I got evidence.

Deputy Mick Wallace

If the Minister is saying that what I said is not true, will he tell me why 11% of Travellers are homeless, why they have a suicide rate of 10% and why psychologists say that Government policies are adding to their identity problem and causing mental health issues as well as depression and suicide? Will the Minister consider the Irish Traveller Movement's position in which it argues for a national agency to deal with Traveller accommodation issues instead of relying on local councillors who are concerned about losing votes in the next election and having to deal with planning objections by residents who are blatantly discriminatory or concerned about the value of their properties dropping? Traveller housing is a difficult, complex and multi-layered issue, but this does not mean that local councils can shirk their duties to provide social housing to a marginalised sector of society which has a high level of homelessness. As far as I can see, the Minister is shirking his responsibility. He has a statutory duty and he is not recognising or fulfilling it.

Deputy Phil Hogan

I do not share Deputy Wallace's opinion. We have provided additional funding for Traveller accommodation, and the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, has said on a regular basis that if additional funding is required, particularly in an emergency, we will look at it in the same way as any other application for housing in a particular area. Everybody has a responsibility to try to help out people who are less well off in our community. Traveller representatives on the national Traveller accommodation consultative committee regularly brief the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and if the evidence about which Deputy Wallace is talking is reflected in their contribution at this committee, we will certainly look at it.