Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2015
1081. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of funding sought and allocated to Kildare County Council in each of the years 2011 to 2014, inclusive, and to date in 2015, in respect of Traveller accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37972/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn accordance with the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, 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 in their areas. My Department’s role is to ensure that there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist the authorities in providing such accommodation, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding. As regards funding, my Department provides capital funding towards the provision of Traveller-specific accommodation and, also, current funding is provided to assist towards the ongoing management and maintenance cost of this accommodation. These specific accommodation-related supports operate in tandem with the capital programme and are provided as follows:
- 90% of the salary and expenses of social workers (currently 58 in number) employed by local authorities and voluntary bodies to work with Travellers; of this number, 5 are employed by voluntary bodies who work with Travellers;
- 75% of the salary of caretakers i.e. that portion of the caretakers’ salary which relates to time spent on maintaining halting sites or group schemes;
- 50% of actual expenditure on routine repair and maintenance costs (labour and materials) (less rent and service charges received) subject to a maximum eligible expenditure of €640 per bay, per year, for halting sites only; and
- 50% of actual skip hire expenditure, subject to a maximum eligible expenditure of €381 per bay, per year, for halting sites only.
The capital allocations and amounts recouped along with the current amounts recouped to Kildare County Council over the period 2011 to 2015 are set out in the following table.
|
Kildare County Council |
CAPITAL Allocation |
CAPITAL Recoupment |
CURRENT Recoupment |
|
2011 |
€200,000 |
Nil |
€193,312 |
|
2012 |
€30,000 |
€30,000 |
€104,763 |
|
2013 |
€113,000 |
€148,352 |
€103,007 |
|
2014 |
€300,000 |
Nil |
€32,127 |
|
2015 |
€200,000 |
Nil (to date) |
€33,669 (to date) |
