The Committee was established to consider policy directions in respect of key issues affecting the Traveller community.
The Committee aims for consensus, based on human rights principles, on policy directions in respect of the following key issues affecting the Traveller community
- physical health, mental health and suicide levels
- school completion rates and educational attainment, particularly at second and third-level compared to the settled population
- labour market participation, having regard to the unemployment rate of 80 per cent among Travellers
- access to housing and accommodation, including Traveller-specific accommodation, in the context of the significantly higher homelessness rate among Travellers compared to the settled population
The Committee is to make its final report to both Houses of the Oireachtas within six months of its first meeting in public and will then stand dissolved.
The Seanad motion to establish the Committee outlined the Committee's full terms of reference.