Traveller Accommodation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2026

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Tuesday, 16 June 2026

Questions (587)

Paul Lawless

Question:

587. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the breakdown of funding provided under Traveller accommodation programmes, including Traveller housing grants, to Mayo County Council over the past five years and to date in 2026; the proportion of that funding drawn down and spent; the number of Traveller-specific housing units delivered, refurbished or upgraded over that period; the current targets set under the Traveller Accommodation Programme; and the projected delivery of additional Traveller accommodation units in County Mayo over the next three to five years. [45550/26]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy John Cummins)

The 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 local 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.

Local authorities are currently implementing their Traveller Accommodation Programmes (TAPs) which include targets for delivering Traveller accommodation between 2025 and 2029, and these are published on local authority websites, including by Mayo County Council.

Since 2020, new arrangements are in place for the disbursement of funding whereby it is open to all local authorities to apply for and draw down funds at any time throughout the year and this is actively encouraged by my Department. The Traveller-specific accommodation budget has been fully drawn down by local authorities in the five-year period 2021-2025, amounting to over €110 million capital expenditure.

Traveller-specific accommodation is focused primarily on the provision of group housing, halting sites, the provision of mobiles and caravans through emergency replacement and the Caravan Loan Scheme, and also includes the acquisition of properties. The drawdown and outputs by Mayo County Council for Traveller-specific accommodation per year since 2021, and drawdown to date in 2026, are set out in the following table:

Mayo	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026 to date	Total
Draw down	€591,614	€965,435	€1,604,352	€464,482	€1,009,349	€239,875	€4,875,107
Caravan Loan Scheme					1	Outputs for 2026 not available until Q1 2027	1
Emergency Replacement Units					3	Outputs for 2026 not available until Q1 2027	3
Acquisitions	3	6	10	2	3	Outputs for 2026 not available until Q1 2027	24

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