Eoin Ó Broin
Question:358. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage how many new units of Traveller-specific accommodation were provided in 2022. [29164/23]
View answerTuesday, 20 June 2023
Questions (358)
Written answers
The 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.
The Act provides that housing authorities have statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller Accommodation Programmes (TAPs) in their areas.
A total of 177 new units were provided under the Traveller-specific accommodation programme in 2022, composed of 6 new halting site bays, 6 new group houses, 29 acquisitions, 28 mobiles, 22 Covid mobiles and 86 caravan loan approvals. This does not however reflect the full extent of the work undertaken by local authorities in improving and refurbishing Traveller accommodation during 2022, which when included, brings total outputs in 2022 to 197.