Five-year Mayo Traveller accommodation plan unveiled

Five-year Mayo Traveller accommodation plan unveiled


Neill O’Neill

THE number of Traveller families on the roadside in Mayo has decreased from 43 to 20 since 2005, while the number of Traveller families resident in the county increased from 169 to 314 in the same period.
These figures were revealed at a meeting of Mayo County Council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee last week, where a draft of the Traveller Accommodation Programme 2009 – 2013 was presented to members of the local authority.
The plan sets out the Council’s proposals for meeting its statutory obligations under the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, and states that the estimated number of units that will be needed to meet the accommodation requirements of Travellers in Mayo over the next five years is 71.
Twenty-nine of these units are to be provided in the Ballina area, 17 in Castlebar, seven in Ballyhaunis, five in Charlestown, three in Kilkelly, three in Ballinrobe, two each in Kiltimagh and Claremorris and one each in Swinford, Foxford and Westport. There will be no Traveller accommodation in the Belmullet area under the plan.
It is the intention of Mayo County Council to provide accommodation through privately-owned and financed units, local authority developed accommodation, private rented accommodation, rental accommodation scheme housing, and through housing developed by voluntary groups. Consultation has been entered into with each of the Traveller families that have been identified as part of the plan regarding their preferred type of accommodation, and an annual review of the plan and its progress will be carried out.
There are no plans to provide transient sites for Travellers in Mayo, and an assessment of need undertaken last year recorded no requirement for additional halting site accommodation as part of the 2009 – 2013 programme.
Over the period of the last plan – between 2005 and 2008 – a total of 182 families were accommodated with the support of Mayo County Council. Fifty-one of these were placed in local authority dwellings, seven were accommodated through the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), while a further 124 families were supported and assisted by Mayo County Council’s Traveller Accommodation Liaison Officers in securing private rented accommodation.
Speaking of the plan, Mayo County Council’s Director of Services with responsibility for housing, Mr Peter Hynes, said the success to date in the area of Traveller accommodation in Mayo was because of the efforts and co-operation between the many groups and organisations involved, and that this would have to continue in order for the Traveller Accommodation Programme 2009 – 2013 to be successful.
He added that as well as Mayo County Council, the HSE, Travellers support groups, Gardaí, residents’ associations and the Department of Education and the Department of Social and Family Affairs all had important roles to play.
The plan will now go before a forthcoming full meeting of Mayo County Council for discussion and approval. It must be completed and adopted by April 30 next.