A national agency to force local authorities to provide Traveller accommodation will be among a series of suggestions to the Minister of State for Housing, Mr Noel Ahern, in a report to be submitted to him next month, writes Kitty Holland.
The report, a review of the workings of the 1998 Traveller Accommodation Act, has been completed in draft form by the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee. Pending Mr Ahern's comments it is due for publication in September.
Though a national agency to monitor, and if necessary force, the provision of Traveller accommodation is outlined as one option in the report, its inclusion as a recommendation was blocked by local authority representatives. A committee member told The Irish Times yesterday that consensus could not be reached on a national Traveller accommodation agency and so could not be included as a recommendation.
"The local authority people and some of the Department officials were against it. All the Travellers representatives of course were in favour of it," the member said. Among those on the committee are Traveller, local authority, settled residents and Department representatives.
A Department spokesman confirmed a national accommodation agency would be included for Mr Ahern's consideration.
"If it was established it would have teeth to oversee local authorities and make sure they are delivering on their Traveller accommodation programmes. It could pull local authorities up if they were seen to be failing," he said.
Under the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998 each local authority in the State was ordered to draw up a five year Traveller accommodation plan by 2000 and to deliver on it by the end of this year. Progress, however, has been slow. According to Department figures local authorities calculated 3,785 units of Traveller accommodation were needed. Six months before the deadline 1,369 units have been built.
Some 780 Traveller families are living by the side of the road without electricity, bathing or toilet facilities, running water or rubbish collection. A further 300 families are said to be living in "sub-standard accommodation" - typically in "emergency" sites with just a running tap and a portaloo type facilities. Travellers groups earlier in the week said local authorities were either "unable or unwilling" to address the Traveller accommodation issue.
They have long called for the responsibility for the provision of Traveller accommodation to be taken from local authorities and put into a central agency. They point out the 1998 Act provides no sanctions against local authorities who fail to deliver on their own Traveller accommodation programmes.
Local authorities have argued they face numerous obstacles in delivering Traveller accommodation but mainly with objections from local residents.