Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 March 2025
83. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of new traveller specific accommodation units delivered in 2024, by local authority area; the average cost per unit in each local authority area; and the total expenditure on the delivery of these new units in 2024. [12586/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
Traveller-specific accommodation is focused primarily on the provision of group housing schemes and halting sites, and also includes the acquisition of properties and the provision of mobiles and caravans through the Caravan Loan Scheme. The number of Traveller-specific accommodation outputs including new units, by local authority in 2024, is set out in the following table:
|
Local Authority |
|
Halting Sites |
|
Group Housing |
Caravan Loan Scheme |
Acquisitions |
Emergency Replacement Mobiles/Mobiles |
Safety/Special Grant |
|
|
New Units |
Major Refurbs |
New Units |
Major Refurbs |
|
|
|
|
|
Carlow |
|
|||||||
|
Cavan |
1 |
|
||||||
|
Clare |
1 |
6 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Cork City |
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
1 |
|
|
Cork County |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donegal |
2 |
|
3 |
|
||||
|
Dublin City |
|
10 |
3 |
13 |
|
|||
|
DLR |
|
4 |
|
|
||||
|
Fingal |
|
3 |
|
|
|
|||
|
South Dublin |
|
7 |
|
4 |
|
|||
|
Galway City |
|
1 |
4 |
|
||||
|
Galway County |
|
7 |
|
|||||
|
Kerry |
|
|||||||
|
Kildare |
|
3 |
1 |
|
||||
|
Kilkenny |
3 |
|
2 |
|
||||
|
Laois |
|
|||||||
|
Leitrim |
|
|||||||
|
Limerick City & Co. |
2 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
||
|
Longford |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Louth |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
Mayo |
|
2 |
|
|
||||
|
Meath |
|
|
10 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
Monaghan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Offaly |
|
3 |
|
|||||
|
Roscommon |
|
|
2 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
Sligo |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Tipperary |
|
4 |
|
|
2 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
Waterford City & Co. |
|
|
5 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
Westmeath |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wexford |
|
|
|
1 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
Wicklow |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
TOTALS |
8 |
11 |
24 |
11 |
49 |
13 |
22 |
1 |
The timeline for the initiation, design, planning approval, tendering and contract management of Traveller-specific accommodation can take several years with the exception of the acquisition of properties and the provision of mobiles and caravans. Therefore, payments made from the Traveller-specific accommodation budget over the last year in respect of construction projects would not give a reliable indication of average costs, as they may not include all payments from initiation to completion in respect of a sufficient quantity of projects to provide a reliable average cost.
Average costs can be provided in respect of the acquisition of homes and the provision of mobiles and caravans through the Caravan Loan Scheme in 2024. Of the acquisitions provided in 2024, the average cost per unit was €276,245, excluding refurbishment costs. For the provision of mobiles/caravans through the Caravan Loan Scheme, the total cost in 2024 was €1,889,607 at an average cost of €38,563 per unit.
