Crisis for Travellers in housing

Sligo Traveller Support Group attended the Irish Traveller Movement AGM and accommodation conference in Galway last week where the ‘ Traveller Homes Matter’ national campaign was launched.

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Damien English acknowledged that travellers around the country had been failed by the State in relation to the provision of suitable and culturally appropriate accommodation. The ‘ Traveller Homes Matter’ campaign outlines five key steps as part of tackling the traveller accommodation crisis. These include the establishment of a National Traveller Accommodation Agency, an independent statutory body to oversee a national programme to deliver traveller specific accommodation, the constitutional right to a home and the amending of part 8 of the Planning Act.

Jamie Murphy form Sligo Traveller Support Group who attended the conference said: “The conference was a very powerful event and there were some harrowing and emotional personal accounts on the impact of homelessness and poor accommodation including suicide, depression, and severe anxiety. There is something fundamentally wrong. Travellers are 11 times more likely to experience homelessness and 22 times more likely to suffer discrimination by a landlord.”