Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 September 2022
212. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the funding allocation for Traveller accommodation from 2018 to date by year and by local authority, in tabular form; the amount of funding that was actually spent by each local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45351/22]
View answerThe Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 provides that the role of my Department is to ensure that there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist housing authorities in providing accommodation for Travellers, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding.
My Department ceased the practice of allocating specific budgets to individual local authorities and implemented a new allocation process following a review of arrangements for the disbursement of funding provision and related supports for Traveller specific accommodation. Since 2020, it is open to all local authorities to apply for and draw down funds at any time throughout the year and this is actively encouraged by my Department. Full spend of the Traveller accommodation budget has been achieved in both 2020 and 2021.
The following table outlines the allocation for each local authority in 2018 and 2019 together with the drawdown from 2018 - 2022 to date.
