The progress of Traveller accommodation schemes, or lack of it, is to be raised in the Dail by the Fine Gael spokeswoman on housing, Ms Olivia Mitchell.
Ms Mitchell is particularly concerned that in the three years since the Traveller Accommodation Act, 1998, the situation both for the settled community and the Travellers has not improved and has sometimes worsened.
Under the Act, local authorities are required to adopt an accommodation programme for Travellers. However, the Minister of State for housing, Mr Robert Molloy, has acknowledged that progress has been slow, and most local authorities only adopted their plans in the second half of last year.
The Government has also established a National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee, chaired by Dr Patricia O'Hara. In its first report last July, it pointed out that between 1998 and 1999 the State accommodated just 68 additional Travelling families.
In that period the number of families living on the roadside grew from 1,148 to 1,203.
While the Minister accepted that progress in this area had "in the past" been slow, he said an accelerated construction programme would be achieved over the next five years. He would also ensure that the necessary capital funding for the programmes would be provided.
Under the local authorities' accommodation schemes, work on refurbishing existing halting sites and creating new ones is under way, according to the Department of the Environment.
The Department acknowledges that a lack of facilities and the generally poor quality of halting sites at local level has resulted in Travellers abandoning the sites and continuing to camp on private land, often leading to conflict with land-owners.
This came to a head last year in south Co Dublin when the land-owners claimed Travellers were demanding "goodbye money" before agreeing to leave private property.
Because of that situation, Ms Mitchell says, she will press the Minister to bring forward legislation to allow gardai, with the consent of the land-owners, to evict unauthorised people from private land. She will also www.environ.ie or from the Traveller Accommodation Unit of the Department of the Environment and Local Government at 01 888 2101.