People Before Profit Galway representative Adrian Curran has criticised the lack of urgency by Galway’s councils in building Traveller accommodation in light of the acknowledgement by Galway City Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath that the Council’s progress on meeting targets under the Traveller Accommodation Programme has been ‘abysmally slow’.
Adrian Curran said:
“The admission by Galway City Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath that progress on the Traveller Accommodation Programme has been abysmally slow is a considerable understatement. The Galway Traveller Movement has repeatedly highlighted the dangerous conditions of Galway’s substandard Traveller accommodation. These include families sleeping on damp mattresses because of water leaks and condensation, family members having to go out to a cold container to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, children’s outdoor play areas either non-existent or infested with pests, and an instance of a family of eight children living in one room. Many Travellers find it impossible to access private rented accommodation, with those that do having to hide their identity or risk eviction when landlords discover that they are Travellers.”
“Galway City and County Councils themselves reported in 2019 that Travellers accounted for a disproportionate 50% of families presenting as homeless locally. Despite their awareness of this, seven years after 11 people died in the Carrickmines halting site fire, both councils have completely failed to provide sufficient Traveller-specific housing. Galway City Council did not spend a cent of the money allocated to it for Traveller accommodation in 2019. In the county, of the €1.8 million allocated for Traveller-specific accommodation, the Council drew down a mere €390,848 between 2015 to 2018 with no sums drawn down in 2015 or 2017. Just last month, members of Galway County Council voted down a proposal to include Traveller accommodation meeting the community’s material and cultural needs, including the importance of horse ownership and space for larger families, in the Galway County Development Plan. The excuses are many, but none change the reality that our councils and the state are criminally failing a vulnerable minority community which faces systemic racism and discrimination every day.”
“Every single person in our society needs a home. People Before Profit demands Traveller accommodation specific to the community’s cultural needs in order to urgently address Galway’s Traveller accommodation crisis. We will not allow our local councils off the hook for failing to meet even the most basic of targets in this regard.”