Report on Travellers' health for Harney

The provision of good quality accommodation is the most crucial issue in improving Travellers' health, a report being presented today to the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, finds.

The Health Impact Assessment of accommodation for Travellers in Donegal finds Traveller children living in badly maintained halting sites or by the side of the road are 10 times more likely to contract pneumonia and seven times more likely to have chest problems as Traveller children in dry, warm accommodation.

The report was commissioned by the Donegal Travellers Project and independently carried out. It was overseen by a multi-agency group including representatives from Donegal County Council and the Health Service Executive.

Among its key findings are that poor living conditions "are the main reason for differences in physical health between different groups of Travellers".

It says there is a concentration of "cold, damp, mould . . . in accommodation" - halting sites or by the side of the road.

Travellers living in these conditions are almost eight times as likely to have ear infections, three times as vulnerable to pneumonia and three times as likely to have chest problems as people living in warm, dry accommodation, says the report.

Of the Traveller families in the county living on sites, 77 per cent described their conditions as cold, 71 per cent as damp, 50 per cent said there was mould in their homes, 36 per cent had leaks and 36 per cent had draughts.

Some 83 per cent of those living on sites said "better accommodation" was the most important thing to improve health.

According to Hughie Friel, accommodation officer with the Donegal Travellers Project, of the 200 or so Traveller families in the county over 10 per cent (about 27) were living in sites or by the side of the road.

Among the issues on sites cited in the report are interrupted water supply, lack of hot water, leaks from toilets, uncovered skips attracting cats, dogs and rats and overcrowding/lack of privacy affecting mental health and children's educational performance.

Mr Friel praised the council and HSE however, for "buying into" the report.