With more than 1,100 traveller families living by the roadside, local authorities are to be required to prepare and adopt a five-year programme to meet travellers' housing needs.
The Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Bill, 1998, published yesterday, claims to provide a legislative framework to deal with the accommodation issue, and provides that the 29 county councils and five county borough corporations set up local consultative committees.
Under the law local authority members, travellers and officials would be represented on these bodies.
By last November 3,394 traveller families were in local authority or local authority-assisted accommodation. However, returns from local authorities also show the number of traveller families on the roadside had increased by 87 to 1,127 at that time.
A 12-member National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee is to be established on a statutory basis to advise the junior Minister responsible for housing, Mr Robert Molloy, on any general aspect of traveller accommodation.
Ten of these members will be selected from specified organisations and the other two at the Minister's discretion.
Extra powers will also be made available to housing authorities to control unauthorised temporary dwelling in their functional areas. There will be an "absolute prohibition" on the erection of temporary dwellings within one mile of existing accommodation "if a nuisance or specified risks arise for the occupants of the accommodation or to persons in the vicinity".
Local authorities are to have improved powers relating to "anti-social behaviour in houses or on housing estates".
Mr Molloy is to set a date by which each relevant housing authority must adopt the proposed five-year programme for the provision of traveller accommodation in their area.
In the event of local authority members failing to adopt an accommodation programme within the time allowed, the manager will be required to do so within one month.
The Bill provides for public consultation in respect of draft traveller accommodation programmes. The public must be informed by notice in a newspaper and two months allowed for submissions.