Travellers still living in ‘deplorable’ conditions, says human rights body

There has been “no major improvement” in the “deplorable” living conditions of Travellers in the past three years, a hard-hitting Council of Europe statement warns.

The statement, issued by the council’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) on Thursday, says “little has been done to address the structural shortcomings in the identification of the housing needs of Travellers and to ensure greater accountability in the use of the Traveller accommodation funds”.

It comes as figures from the Department of Housing show just 18 new Traveller halting-site bays were provided across the State last year, with 13 local authorities neither providing new Traveller accommodation nor refurbishing any.

The data, obtained by Sinn Féin spokesman on housing Eoin Ó Broin, shows just 70 units of Traveller accommodation, including five refurbished halting-site bays, 10 refurbished group-housing units and 16 mobiles provided as pandemic emergency measures were put in place last year.

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Among the 13 councils providing no new Traveller accommodation, or refurbishments in 2021 were Cork, Kerry, Sligo and Wexford counties. There is no spending recorded by any council on fire-safety or health-and-safety works.

The most recent figures, for 2019, show 529 Traveller families were living by the side of the road, usually without basic facilities such as running water.

Racism and intolerance

The ECRI statement comes after a follow-up investigation on two of its priority recommendations – on Traveller accommodation, and hate-crime and hate-speech legislation – in its 2019 monitoring report. The commission, which monitors racism and intolerance, and steps to address them, publishes country-specific reports about every five years.

In 2019, on Traveller accommodation, it noted: “Nothing has changed … since its last report [in 2013]. Despite the adoption of multi-annual Traveller Accommodation Programmes, the majority of local authorities have consistently failed to provide adequate and culturally appropriate accommodation for Travellers.”

It was then “shocked” at the level of underspend by local authorities of Traveller accommodation budgets and “alarmed at the deplorable conditions in which Travellers were living”.

While in its most recent report it is “pleased” the entire €14.5 million allocated for Traveller accommodation in 2020 was spent, it notes most of it was used for emergency Covid-related needs, such as portable toilets, running water and additional caravans to lessen overcrowding “rather than to meet Travellers’ long-standing housing needs”.

Through two decades of reports the commission has stepped up its calls for greater oversight of local authorities failing to deliver Traveller accommodation. It noted the lack of “sanctions” in 2002 and called for measures “as necessary” to “improve” delivery of accommodation in 2007. In 2013 it recommended “measures binding on local authorities” and in 2019 suggested “dissuasive sanctions on local authorities for failure to spend allocated funding”.

No major improvement

In this latest statement it notes: “None of the recommendations regarding the increased national oversight of the delivery of Traveller accommodation has been implemented as yet.

“Most importantly, there has been no major improvement in the accommodation conditions of Travellers.”

The commission "strongly encourages the Irish authorities to step up their efforts to implement the recommendations set out in the Traveller Accommodation Expert Report of 2019 and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission 2021 recommendations in this area". They made wide-ranging recommendations, including sanctions on councils, to increase Traveller-specific accommodation.

On hate-crime and hate-speech legislation, the commission notes “very encouraging steps”, including the drafting of the Criminal Justice (Hate Crime) Bill 2021, Garda training on the issue and the establishment of an online crime reporting facility in July 2021.