Accommodation Rights
Accommodation Rights: CTWN advocates for Traveller accommodation rights, providing supports for individuals and families as well as working on local and national Traveller accommodation committees. We are also an active member of the South Western Regional Traveller Accommodation Working Group

Working for Traveller Accommodation Rights

Travellers face an accommodation crisis which has been repeatedly highlighted both nationally and internationally. There is a sustained pattern of local authorities underspending their allocated funding for Traveller specific accommodation going back years (€72 million unspent between 2008 and 2019)

The conditions on overcrowded and rat infested halting Traveller sites have been repeatedly raised in the media and remain an issue.

The Ombudsman for Children produced a damning report on the conditions in a Cork city halting site and the impact on children’s lives.

No End In Sight Report

The Ombudsman for Children’s Office created the report No End in Site; An investigation into the living conditions of children living on a local authority site.

Download the report at: https://www.oco.ie/library/no-end-in-site-an-investigation-into-the-living-conditions-of-children-on-a-local-authority-halting-site/

Homelessness crisis

A new crisis of homelessness and hidden homeless is emerging for Travellers. Traveller children represent 12 per cent of the homeless children in emergency accommodation despite Travellers only making up 1 per cent of the population and Travellers are 22% more likely to become part of Ireland’s homelessness crisis.

CTWN has been advocating for better living conditions for Travellers in Cork city for many years. This includes advocacy individual, local and national advocacy and also strategic partnership work around accommodation.

Cork & Kerry RTAWG

CTWN is a member of the Cork and Kerry Regional Traveller accommodation working group.

The working group was set up in the aftermath of the fatal Carrickmines fire tragedy and in response to the state failure to provide adequate and safe accommodation for the Traveller community nationally, despite massive advocacy work done by Travellers and Traveller organisations.

The group is led by 6 Traveller led community development organisations and focuses on building new co-ordinated strategic regional responses to the Traveller accommodation crisis, giving visibility to Traveller experiences around accommodation and homelessness and proposing solutions to influence policy and practice.