Austin Deasy
Ceist:88 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on the progress being made on the rehousing of travellers; the number rehoused in 1997; and the number waiting to be rehoused. [6579/98]
Written Answers - Traveller Accommodation.
Austin Deasy
Ceist:89 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of travelling families in the country; and the number of these who have indicated a wish to be rehoused. [6580/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 88 and 89 together.
In March 1996 local authorities carried out an assessment of housing needs in their areas. Details of the results, based on returns from local authorities, are included in Part XII of my Department's annual housing statistics bulletin for 1996, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library. At that time 749 traveller families were assessed as in need of housing and a further 734 families as being suited to accomodation in caravan parks. These figures include families on the roadside, families in temporary local authority accommodation seeking permanent accommodation and families in permanent accommodation seeking a change to a different type of accommodation.
Local authorities provide accommodation for travellers through the letting of houses from their existing or new housing stock, or in traveller group housing schemes and in serviced bays on halting sites. Between the annual count of travellers carried out in November 1996 and November 1997, there was a net increase of 189 families in housing provided by or with the assistance of local authorities and halting site accommodation. At the end of this period there were 3,394 traveller families in local authority or local authority assisted accommodation, an estimated further 266 families were in private accommodation and 1,127 families were on the roadside or other unserviced locations.
Implementation of the national strategy on traveller accommodation will be underpinned by forthcoming legislation and this should secure a sustained expansion in local authority programmes for the provision of suitable accommodation to meet the needs of travellers. A capital allocation of £11 million has been provided in 1998 for the provision of group housing schemes and halting sites compared with an outturn of £9.5 million in 1997.