NOT more than 5 per cent of travellers can hope to reach their 50th birthday, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, said yesterday.
This is due to the living conditions which society accepts as adequate for travelling people, he said at the launch of the Crosscare report on traveller accommodation.
Speaking at the St Oliver's Park halting site in Clondalkin, Dr Connell said that "travelling people should no longer be required to live in conditions that would be unacceptable to all other members of society".
He said. "The fact that we allow a situation to continue where families are left without water, lacking good sanitation facilities and in conditions associated with less developed countries is a measure of the distance still to be crossed before we become a truly caring society."
The report "highlights the fact that negative voices from the `settled' community do not always reflect the feelings of the majority in that community towards the members of the travelling community", he said. All sides should have an opportunity to present their side of the case.
The report was co-launched by Dr Connell and by Ms Liz, McManus, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal.
"There are many practical examples of widespread acceptance by the settled community of traveller accommodation where strong opposition prevailed before the site was built," she said.
A new "traveller accommodation unit" has been set up in the Department of the Environment to oversee the implementation of the Government's plan to provide 3,100 units of accommodation for travellers in the next four years, she said.
She also said a statutory "consultative group" was to be established "to monitor the preparation, adequacy and implementation of local programmes and to advise me as necessary". It will include representatives of travellers.