A chara, – The Traveller Accommodation Expert Review report recommends the centralising of responsibility for Traveller accommodation (News, July 24th).
This “expert group” had no local authority representatives, elected or official, in its membership and, as with most expert groups in Ireland, when there is a perceived problem, they inevitably suggest a national centralised agency that will strip away local powers (think HSE, Irish Water, etc).
There is misconception that local authorities are failing to provide accommodation for Traveller families. According to the latest data (2017), 6,234 Traveller families are in housing provided by local councils. Given that the 2016 census found that there were 8,717 Traveller households in Ireland, this means that 71.5 per cent of Traveller families’ housing needs are met by local authorities. Of that number, over 5,000 are in standard housing, with fewer than a thousand on halting sites.
Local authorities are required every five years to draw up Traveller Accommodation Plans to set out how we will meet the local needs of Traveller accommodation. The experience in Wexford County Council is that the overwhelming majority of Travellers wish to be housed in standard local authority housing. These are the expressed wishes of the Traveller families themselves.
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We have consistently exceeded the targets that we have set in that regard and indeed, members of the Traveller community are given priority over members of the settled community. Given the numbers housed by local authorities set out above, this record is replicated across the country.
There is criticism of the failure to draw down funds for “Traveller-specific accommodation”. This does not mean, as we have seen, that Travellers are not being housed. This means that in some years, councils do not build halting sites nor houses designed specifically for Traveller families. We do spend considerable sums every year on the maintenance, cleaning and repair of such sites and houses.
Yes, there is a shortage of housing for Travellers, as there is for all sections of our community.
Setting up another centralised agency will not mean that more houses will be built.
The issue of controversy here is around the provision of halting sites – the desired form of accommodation for a small minority of the Traveller community. There can be no doubt that some of the objections to their provision are based on naked discrimination, and this is not acceptable.
However, there are legitimate concerns on the part of many about the antisocial behaviour and lack of respect for property exhibited by a minority of Travellers. While we must be strong in respecting and defending Travellers’ rights, the question of Travellers’ responsibilities are rarely addressed by “expert groups” or Travellers’ rights organisations.
Until this behaviour is confronted, there will always be objections to halting sites – whether proposed by a local authority or a national quango – and dismissing the concerns of locals based on their lived experiences will simply ferment populist politics and do nothing to address societal divisions.
The Minister should reject the group’s flawed set of proposals, he should defend local government, and he should look at addressing underlying issues rather than go for the traditional “let’s set up a centralised agency” approach, which is doomed to failure. – Is mise,
Cllr MALCOLM BYRNE,
Fianna Fáil,
Member of Wexford
County Council,
Gorey,
Co Wexford.