Traveller Accommodation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 February 2019

Wednesday, 20 February 2019

Ceisteanna (27, 30, 43)

Dessie Ellis

Ceist:

27. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the steps he will take in view of the findings of the European committee on social rights that Ireland remains in violation of the European social charter on five grounds for Travellers by failing to redress insufficient provision and inadequate quality of Traveller accommodation, in legislation and practice and in circumstances in which Travellers were threatened with evictions and without the necessary safeguards. [8481/19]

Joan Collins

Ceist:

30. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of Traveller-specific accommodation units built in 2018; and the targets in place for 2019 and 2020. [8381/19]

Eoin Ó Broin

Ceist:

43. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the rationale for the 44% underspend in the Traveller accommodation budget for 2018; and the efforts he is making to ensure there is a 100% draw-down of funding by local authorities in 2019. [8452/19]

Freagraí ó Béal (8 píosaí cainte)

Deputy Joan Collins

I raise this question because there seems to be an issue with the money being provided for local authorities. The data show that, of the €12 million earmarked for Traveller housing in 2018, just €1.7 million was drawn down. Money is being allocated for Traveller accommodation, but it is not being drawn down. An independent expert group was established to examine and make recommendations on the issues related to the provision of Traveller accommodation. At what stage is it? It was supposed to report early this year.

Deputy Damien English

I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 30 and 43 together.

In accordance with the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, local 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.  My Department’s role is to ensure there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist the local authorities in providing such accommodation, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding. It is a matter for each local authority to set targets for the provision of Traveller accommodation, which they outline in their TAPs. The allocation and recoupment profiles for Traveller accommodation projects can vary across local authorities, given local priorities, circumstances and project timelines as set out in their programmes.  The programmes provide a roadmap for local authority investment priorities over the period and form the basis for the allocation of funding from my Department for Traveller accommodation.

In 2018 local authorities delivered a total of 107 units of Traveller accommodation.  They included 57 refurbishments or extensions, 48 emergency caravans, one group house and one first-time buyer's grant for the purchase of a caravan. Local authorities are preparing their fifth multi-annual TAPs which will run from 2019 to 2024.  I believe the new councils will continue this process in June this year. The plans will outline details of the programmes to be undertaken to meet the existing and projected accommodation needs of Travellers in their areas.  The TAPs will be prepared by the local authorities in consultation with local Traveller organisations, the local Traveller consultative committees, LTACCs, other relevant community groups and the public in general.  They will come into effect from September this year.

In line with the commitment in Rebuilding Ireland, reflecting the disappointing level of overall funding drawn down in recent years, which I agree is unacceptable, and having regard to relevant findings in relation to the European social charter referred to, the Housing Agency commissioned a review of funding for Traveller-specific accommodation in 2017.  The review had regard to the targets contained in local authority TAPs and the actual delivery, the status of accommodation funded and funding provided for accommodation maintenance and other supports.

Following its consideration of the review, the national Traveller accommodation consultative committee recommended that an independent expert group be established to examine and make recommendations on issues regarding Traveller accommodation policy, strategy and implementation.  The expert group was established in September 2018.  It has been asked to review the effectiveness, implementation and operation of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, with a view to examining whether it provides a robust legislative basis for meeting current and future accommodation needs of the Traveller community.  It has also been asked to review other legislation that may impact on the provision and delivery of Traveller-specific accommodation, including transient accommodation, which will address a number of the issues raised by the European committee on social rights.  I expect the group to provide my Department with a report in April this year. When we set it up in September or October, I met the group and asked its members to do this work as quickly as they possibly could. We wanted them to do it within three or four months, but they expressed a preference for a period of six months. We hope to have the report no later than April in order that we can act on it at that time. My Department will consider any recommendation made by the expert group that will have the potential to improve the delivery of Traveller accommodation nationally and help to ensure full use is made of the increasing level of funding available for investment in Traveller accommodation.

The Deputy asked about targets for next year. At housing summits and individual meetings with the housing delivery team as we travel around the country, we sit down with local authorities to go through the question of delivery. I will continue to do so in the next month or two, with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. We will try to see if projects are on track and that there are proposals in the pipeline as we want the money to be spent.

Deputy Joan Collins

I welcome the points made by the Minister of State. Heretofore, there has not been any drilling down into how and where Traveller accommodation can be built. If Traveller groups are involved in the process, it can make a difference. I was hoping the report would be ready by now, as I am interested in the details of what it will contain. There has been a lack of will on the part of local authorities to provide the accommodation needed by the Traveller community, but I hope the process the Minister of State has put in place will deliver over a period of time and determine where we can build five, ten or 20 homes and provide the funding needed for them. That is the only way to deal with the issue.

Deputy Damien English

I agree with the Deputy. We genuinely want to make progress in this area. There has been under-achievement in meeting the TAP targets set for the past 20 years by up to 80%, although the position in some years was better than others. Not enough has been happening at local level to make projects succeed. The Deputy made reference to local authorities, but detailed analysis has been undertaken and it has been found that there is a combination of reasons for it, and that all stakeholders are involved. We need to find ways to make this happen and have the money spent. People are living in unsatisfactory conditions, something none of us wants. Therefore, we must address the issue which is a priority for us and the sooner we receive the report the better. Even without it, we are sitting down with the local authorities to work on projects to have them delivered. It comes down to planning, design and lay-out and individual families have different requests.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

I acknowledge the good work the Minister of State is doing on the issue, particularly in the establishment of the expert group. However, I am increasingly concerned by the underspend year on year. I received the reply to a parliamentary question last night which gave us the breakdown for last year by local authority. Not only was there a 48% underspend across the State, ten local authorities did not spend anything at all, 14 significantly underspent, while only six either spent their full allocation or overspent. That is not good enough. I hope the Minister of State is not suggesting he is waiting for the expert group to make its findings to enable him to work out how to deal with the issue. This is the second year in a row in which just about half of the budget has not been spent. What did the Minister of State do last year with the local authorities to fix the underspend in the year before and last year? Whatever the expert group recommends in its report, to which we are looking forward, it will not have any impact until 2020. What is the Minister of State going to do differently this year to ensure we will not be here in 12 months' time discussing a significant underspend?

Deputy Damien English

We all share the Deputies' concerns that the money is not being spent on Traveller-specific accommodation, but even though there is an underspend, we will make sure the money is spent on other housing solutions that will benefit both Travellers and non-Travellers. Travellers do not just benefit from Traveller-specific accommodation. We meet many Traveller families who want a choice of accommodation. The money is not lost to the housing budget and the Department has proved that it can spend money wisely and get good results.

The only way we have to deal with local authorities is to use existing law. We can sit down with them and work through specific projects. I have visited some of the key sites in a couple of counties that are causing difficulty. Some of the sites in Galway and Cork were named in the European review. We have sat down with local authority members and council staff in the areas concerned to find ways to progress projects. I have also met many Traveller representative bodies to try to make a breakthrough because in some situations it is not as straightforward as it seems. It is not always the fault of one side and there are other issues at play. The best way to do it is to work through our delivery team to find ways to have the money spent. We are not waiting for the expert group to come back, but I hope the report will indicate a clear direction for how we can tackle this issue. We want to improve the position for Traveller families.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

My concern is that the situation is getting worse year on year. For example, the worst ever underspend since the Traveller accommodation programmes were introduced was in 2017 and now we discover that last year the situation was the same. It is the same local authorities. This is not about one or two sites, because the Minister of State is absolutely right that there can be two sides to any story, but there is clearly a structural problem here when we have 24 local authorities either not spending or significantly underspending a budget. That is a structural problem in the system. I do not accept it is a positive that this money is spent elsewhere. Traveller homelessness is higher than in any other section of the population. We are three years and a few months on from the tragic events in Carrickmines where families were living in wholly inappropriate and dangerous conditions. This budget is not just for new Traveller accommodation, it should also be for upgrades, improvements and fire safety works. The fact that so many local authorities are not spending or are underspending is a problem. I am waiting to hear something different that the Government will do this year to ensure the money is spent. I appreciate the primary problem here is at a local government level but the Department has to do more to ensure 2019 does not have the same level of underspend as the last two years.

Deputy Damien English

Again, part of the issue here is that, as we rightly increase the capital funding back up, the pipeline of projects are not there to be able to draw that allocation down. We originally make allocations based on projects that should be in the pipeline and have come through planning and then they get stuck in planning or design or have not been agreed locally with all the various stakeholders so there are reasons for that. Much of that difficulty is probably with new sites or new accommodation, however. From what I can see there are certainly plenty of projects that we could refurbish and spend this money on, so we have asked local authorities to look at all existing accommodation that is not up to a satisfactory condition so that this money can be drawn down for those projects. I am more confident this year that this money will be spent than I would have been last year because we have put a lot more time and effort into doing this. There is also full engagement from all the stakeholders and we have to recognise that there are responsibilities and rights on all sides here to try to bring this forward. I do not single out one or two areas or stakeholders; I believe the system has not delivered. There are many involved in that system and it needs to be addressed. Hopefully, with the work we are doing this year prior to the report, we will get some progress in this space.