Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 November 2024
95. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current status of the Traveller Accommodation and Support Programme pipeline across all Traveller accommodation projects initiated in the period 2019-2024.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45370/24]
View answer96. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a centralised national report of the Traveller Accommodation Programme 2019-2024, of all local authorities, to include expenditure, delivery and programme pipeline status. [45371/24]
View answerThe Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 provides that the role of my Department is to ensure that there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist housing authorities in providing accommodation for Travellers, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding. The Act provides that housing authorities have statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller Accommodation Programmes (TAPs) in their areas.
The TAPs provide a pathway for the delivery of a range of accommodation solutions for Travellers including halting site bays, group housing schemes, acquisition of homes, HAP and RAS. My Department’s TAP Guidelines provide for an assessment of need, local authority annual targets, measures for implementation and a policy statement in relation to meeting accommodation needs to be included in each TAP. Local authorities, who are responsible for the delivery of TAPs, remain responsible for reporting on progress in relation to their TAPs at the local level.
The current stage of the ongoing project approval pipeline and funding allocated by my Department to all Traveller Accommodation Programme projects being undertaken across all local authorities is set out in the table below.
|
Traveller-Specific Accommodation Development Stage |
Remaining Allocation Commitment |
|
Single Stage |
€21,832,601 |
|
Stage 1 |
€18,263,189 |
|
Stage 2 |
€65,889,118 |
|
Stage 3 |
€4,966,758 |
|
Stage 4 |
€6,842,814 |
|
Final Account |
€387,516 |
|
Acquisitions |
€5,436,966 |
Local authorities will be able to provide further detail on the status of individual projects, which are dynamic in nature, in their respective areas as it is not possible to fully disaggregate by year, given that this table refers to all ongoing project approvals.
