asked the Minister for Local Government the number of local authorities which availed of the Department's subsidy offered towards the cost of employing social workers to deal with itinerant settlement; and if his Department will consider taking more direct action, without recourse to the local authorities, to deal satisfactorily with this problem.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Employment of Social Workers.
134.
Eleven local authorities have availed of the Department's subsidy towards the cost of employing 11 social workers to deal with itinerants; similar arrangements are being considered in two other areas. In addition three voluntary committees have employed four social workers with the aid of the Department's subsidy.
The Government's approach to the itinerant settlement programme is to provide a positive national policy and to back it up by all possible means through provision of advice and assistance, including financial support which is generous by any standard. But in the end the success of the programme will depend more than anything else on the attitudes and efforts of the local communities. From this point of view the role of the local authorities is of critical importance. Many local authorities have made admirable progress and, while this cannot be said of all, every effort will be maintained to speed up progress where it has been slow and I cannot see that better results could be achieved over all by any other approach.