Council refuses Travellers' request for special treatment

Cork County Council will not treat Travellers differently from any other people on the waiting list for housing, or provide them loans for caravans.

These were among a number of requests made by Traveller organisations who were being consulted by the council as part of its plan to deal with their housing needs up to 2018.

Travellers had also asked the council to consider possible independent housing for members of their community aged 14-17.

Council officials again refused that request, saying they didn’t consider anybody for independent housing until they’d reached 18.

Traveller organisations had sought a separate waiting list be drawn up for housing needs, saying their community had different needs due to health issues and overcrowding.

The council uses the same criteria to determine who is most in need in the general community and said Travellers would be subject to the same tried and trusted assessments as were always in use.

However, there was one thing officials agreed with.

The majority of Travellers who answered a survey on housing needs said they didn’t want to see transient halting sites springing up in the county.

The council has decided that won’t happen and instead wants to concentrate on getting Travellers to settle in local authority-owned homes or ones operated by voluntary housing agencies.

According to a report now compiled by the council, the majority of Travellers who completed the survey said they wanted their children to grow up in standard housing.

As a result of the survey the council has set a goal to accommodate 47 Traveller families in such houses between now and 2018.

It intends to put at least eight families a year into existing local authority or voluntary housing association-owned homes, or homes it may have to purchase to suit their particular needs.

In addition, it intends in 2016 to house three families it has identified into a group housing scheme, where they will live side by side.

This year, it proposes to put three families into an existing halting site, followed by a further family in 2015. These families have expressed their desire to be housed in this fashion.

The council added that its staff will also continue to assist and advise Travellers in relation to a range of housing options available to them, such as private rented accommodation, the Rental Accommodation Scheme, and long-term leasing.