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Traveller Accommodation
Section 7 of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998 required each housing authority to prepare and adopt a five-year Traveller Accommodation Programme - subject to periodic review - by 31 March, 2000. Westmeath County Council was obliged to refer to the most recent assessment of Traveller accommodation needs in its functional area, in the course of preparing its programme.
The Council established a local Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee in each division, as required by the Act. This committee considered a draft programme in 1999, with the public consultation process beginning in October. The committee considered the submissions received, which were generally supportive of the draft programme. However, some amendments were made with regard to issues raised in the submissions. On 27 March 2000, Council members adopted the Westmeath County Council Traveller Accommodation Programme for County Westmeath, 2000-2004. This programme acknowledges that 95 indigenous families need to be catered for over a five-year period. It also outlines the housing options required to accommodate the families.
Progress of Traveller Accommodation Programme
A number of individual houses have been allocated to Traveller families. The Council is endeavouring to locate suitable sites for group housing schemes for Traveller families who have indicated a preference for them. The number of Traveller families in the North Westmeath region on the date of the annual count of Traveller families amounted to 66.
The existing Traveller Accommodation Programme is currently under review and a new programme is due for adoption in 2005. The current programme proposes to provide for the accommodation needs of 24 families in Westmeath currently in need. A Local Traveller Consultative Committee is in place, consisting of Westmeath members and officials and Traveller representatives. Implementation of this programme and meeting the needs of the Traveller community will be a central part of our Housing Programme in the coming years. In the Westmeath (Rural and Hinterland) region, five units of accommodation were allocated to the Traveller community, and accepted, in 2003. In addition, a review of the Traveller Accommodation Programme for South Westmeath was undertaken. However, no material change resulted. In the West Westmeath region, the number of units provided to Traveller families up to 25 February 2004 amounts to the following:
- Five casual vacancies of existing local authority housing.
- Eight allocations of new houses.
- One unit under social housing measures.
- Two units at the halting site on Moses Road.
When the annual count was undertaken, a total of 34 Traveller families were identified in the West Westmeath region.
