Call for new body to tackle Traveller housing

Responsibility for the provision of Traveller accommodation should be taken from local authorities if they do not make progress in the next few months in implementing their programmes, it has been claimed.

Mr Martin Collins, assistant director of Pavee Point, said local authorities had "failed to show courage", in implementing their housing programmes. He was speaking at the launch of the second Citizen Traveller billboard and radio advertising campaign, which focuses on accommodation. He said an independent authority for Traveller accommodation should be established.

The poster, which will be shown on 166 billboard sites, accompanies a radio advert about Traveller accommodation. "The time for niceties is gone," said Mr Collins. "We have tried and failed with that approach. We need to be more aggressive." He believed the poster campaign "captures the emotion of what Travellers have to live with".

The image is of Mary Connors (7), a pupil at Holy Cross school in Wicklow, standing in front of a caravan surrounded by rocks and rubble, on the side of a road. The caption states: "Her school work says first-class pupil. Her site says second-class citizen." The poster also has the message: "Stop the evictions. Deliver the accommodation programme."

Lack of proper accommodation for Travellers greatly increased the tensions between the Traveller and settled communities, Mr Collins said. The provision of such accommodation was not going to solve all problems but "the intensity of the tension between the two communities would be greatly reduced". The situation had not changed since 1995 when it was planned to provide 3,100 accommodation units by 2000. Only 140 had been provided since 1995.

Many public representatives favoured a separate housing authority, he said. "Very few politicians will go against the wishes of their constituents. Traveller accommodation is too controversial and they will tell you privately that they favour the control of housing being taken out of the hands of local authorities and into an independent housing authority."

Ms Rosaleen McDonagh, of the National Traveller Women's Forum, said that when Travellers were being evicted "it is usually women who are there at the time".

Ms McDonagh added that when the accommodation needs of Travellers are being addressed the "specific needs of women and children in terms of domestic and living space have to be looked at. There should be an acknowledgment that it is mainly women who serve on the local accommodation committees."