Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 November 2023
245. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail the planned and already provided accommodation (details supplied) from 2018 - 2023 within Mayo County Council that will benefit from this funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49517/23]
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.
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.
Mayo County Council has drawdown €3,143,112 between 2018 and 2023 from the Traveller Accommodation capital budget primarily on the acquisition of housing for Travellers.
In addition, Mayo County Council has drawdown capital funding relating to Covid-19 preventative measures on authorised and unauthorised halting sites in Mayo in each of the years requested, as set out in the following table:
|
Year |
Halting Sites Expenditure € |
|
2018 |
0 |
|
2019 |
0 |
|
2020 |
47,950.90 |
|
2021 |
6,957.83 |
|
2022 |
13,983.74 |
|
2023* |
7,360.81 |
*Year to date
There is one authorised halting site in Mayo and the Council are at the initial plan stages of a funding application to redevelop this site.
