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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 3 Mar 2022

Vol. 1019 No. 2

Committee Report on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community: Statements

I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, as he cannot attend. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcomhchoiste as an tuarascáil thábhachtach. I welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, on the important report on key issues affecting the Traveller community. I thank the committee members and its Chair, Senator Eileen Flynn, for their comprehensive report, which raises many key issues and also makes several important recommendations that will involve work across several Departments. The Minister had good engagement with the committee in November and is aware that it consulted Traveller and Roma groups widely, in addition to Departments and other interested stakeholders.

The issue of intersectionality also needs to be addressed more coherently. We know, for instance, that the issues facing Traveller women and girls are different from those facing Traveller men and boys. In this context, we need to see how the successor strategy to the national strategy for women and girls can work in tandem with NTRlS's successor strategy to focus on particular issues for Traveller women and girls. The strategy committee's role will be pivotal in developing the consultation process and the content for the successor strategy. The successor strategy will not represent change for the sake of change. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will listen carefully to stakeholders to ascertain what they advise. The advice provided by Traveller and Roma organisations will directly shape the scope and focus of the next strategy. The recommendations contained in the report of the special Oireachtas committee will also inform the next iteration of NTRIS. The support of all Departments will be crucial in ensuring the successor strategy will have a more outcomes-focused approach.

The Chair will know that both of us have worked with the Traveller community in our constituencies for many years. Based on my having read the summary recommendations of the report, I commend the committee's Chairman, Senator Flynn, and its members on what is a really comprehensive report with a targeted and focused set of actions to be implemented. In a speech I made following the issuing of the No End in Site report of the Ombudsman for Children's Office, I said that among Traveller families I know in my community and my Traveller friends, it is accepted that little, if anything, will ever change. Now and then, there is a breakthrough when we celebrate someone going to third level education but these events are rare. In that regard, it is critical that we address the findings of the report at a whole-of-government level and right across the Houses of the Oireachtas and work with all partner agencies and the Traveller and Roma communities to achieve the transformation. I feel very strongly about it.

We see persistent discrimination, including at political level when there is intervention in housing allocations. We see Traveller families, particularly young Travellers, hiding themselves from view rather than celebrating their heritage and culture. As Minister of State with responsibility for heritage, I worked with the Heritage Council to develop the post of an intercultural heritage officer whose job would be to work with the Traveller and Roma communities. We saw some really positive outcomes of that during Heritage Week last year. I really feel that part of the process will involve focusing on celebrating Traveller culture, heritage and music. In many ways, the Traveller community saved a lot of Irish traditional music through the oral tradition and language and its really deep traditions. From this perspective, we need to tackle collectively the discrimination that takes place at every level in society. The outcomes for young Travellers have not changed all that much in 20 years in this country. We see this in housing, educational attainment and mental health.

Report after report has recommended the way forward in the context of how we try to address this matter. I feel that very little is changing in a real sense. The Government is deeply committed to trying to resolve these issues. People across this House are deeply committed to trying to resolve it with the Traveller community.

I welcome the report. I thank Senator Flynn and the members of the committee for the work that they put into it. I hope that we can constructively work together to try to address the discrimination and the life outcomes for the Traveller and Roma communities in Ireland.

Senator Eileen Flynn

I thank the Minister of State for taking the time out to allow me to address the House. I thank Deputies for the opportunity and for allowing me to be here on what is a historical day. I welcome my little girl, Billie, who is in the Gallery. Just before I came into the Chamber, one of the ushers told me that I should remember that I am not here for nothing and that I am here because I deserve to be here. I thought that was a lovely comment for him to make when I was coming in.

I want to start by speaking about the report. That is more important than me being invited to speak in the Chamber today. It is about the report. I thank Deputies for inviting me to address the House today on what I hope will be a life-changing report for many Travellers. The final report of the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community is the work of many. Most importantly, however, the report was inspired by contributions from Travellers. National and local Traveller organisations and activists dedicated ourselves to many battles on the future for the Traveller community to ensure it has more equality of opportunity in Irish society.

I was elected Chairperson of the joint committee on 19 November 2020. Deputy Ó Cuív was elected Vice Chairman. I thank Deputy Ó Cuív again for all of his hard work and determination in working with us in the Traveller community over many years. The committee was built on the important work of the previous committee, chaired by former Senator Colette Kelleher. The committee made 84 recommendations in four areas, namely: health, including physical and mental health; education, particularly second and third level education; employment; and accommodation. If the recommendations in this report are implemented, and I believe they must be, the committee and all of us in the Dáil and the Seanad will be part of ensuring a better future for Travellers. That is something for us to be very proud of.

Before I speak any further on the report, I would like to formally welcome to the Gallery representatives from the Irish Network Against Racism, the Irish Traveller Movement, AkiDwA, Pavee Point, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, the Muslim Sisters of Éire, the Amal Women's Association, the National Traveller Mental Health Network, Exchange House and the National Traveller Women's Forum. I believe that civil society organisations play a key role in society. I thank the organisations represented for their work and for being here today. I also thank my husband, Liam Whyte, and my friend, Damien Peelo, for being in the Gallery to support me in giving this speech today.

As I said, the joint committee's report includes 84 recommendations on four critical areas. The vast majority of the recommendations are not new. They just have not been implemented. We are looking for inclusive education and delivered health services, particularly in relation to mental health. We have all seen that the authorities have not provided appropriate Traveller accommodation. Oversight structures must be put in place and implemented to ensure that safe and culturally appropriate accommodation is provided for Travellers and families. We have been asking for these consistently. As the Minister of State said, over the years there have been many reports that highlighted the challenges that Travellers face in these areas, including the Oireachtas report. We are still here today discussing the recommendations. I cannot say enough in this speech how important and key the implementation of recommendations is. At the time of the launch of the report, Deputy Ó Cuív and I said that nothing will change unless the recommendations are implemented. Most importantly, a lack of action will mean the loss of hope for many Travellers and generations to come.

I almost hesitate to mention some of the recommendations because they are all very important. Still, some provide structure for change and will finally bring Travellers the services and support that we deserve as a community. We must establish a national Traveller accommodation authority to oversee the development and implementation of Traveller accommodation policy. The current system, whereby local authorities provide accommodation for Travellers, too often has not worked for Travellers. Time and time again, we see local authorities underspend on their allocated funding for the Traveller community. Between 2018 and 2019, there was an underspend of more than €72 million in local authorities in funding for Traveller accommodation. Yet the needs of Travellers regarding accommodation remain as serious as ever. Who will be held to account for families who are living in overcrowded or unsafe accommodation or who are homeless? The call for a national Traveller accommodation authority has been made many times over the years. The call was also made by the Traveller accommodation expert review group in 2019. The Minister committed to it then. Now, it is time to see it through.

What I will say next is the most important part of this whole speech, and it must be listened to and heard in this House. Young Travellers within the Traveller community are dying by suicide every day. There must be a stand-alone national Traveller mental health strategy with a ring-fenced budget. There must be a clear timeline of implementation and delivery for it. We need a Traveller mental health steering group that is run in partnership with stakeholders and, most importantly, with Travellers. The recommendation that a national Traveller mental health strategy should be developed and implemented is not new. The Government promised a national Traveller mental health strategy in the programme for Government. Only a stand-alone strategy will turn the tide on the Traveller mental health crisis.

I was delighted and proud last year to see the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill 2018 be passed by the Dáil thanks to my colleague, Deputy Pringle. I thank the former Senator Colette Kelleher and my Civil Engagement Group colleagues for bringing it through the Seanad. That Bill is now on Committee Stage. The Bill must be implemented as soon as possible. Not only must it be implemented, but it must be representative of the Traveller community. It must be implemented in our Irish education system as soon as possible.

The fourth important recommendation of the report is to ensure that we continue to move forward the commitments and the recommendations that the Houses of the Oireachtas made through the committee established to oversee the issues faced by Travellers. This includes monitoring implementation and recommendations, and delivering a follow-up strategy to the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy, as well as looking at other areas that impact on Travellers' lives. We cannot just live in hope that things will get better for the Traveller community. We have to implement the recommendations that are already there.

When I was thinking about what I would say today, I thought of the great John Hume, who spoke gracefully of the vital importance of people working together for a better future. I am a strong believer in solidarity and allyship. I base my activism around it.

When John Hume accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, he said:
I want to see an Ireland of partnership where we wage war on want and poverty, where we reach out to the marginalised and dispossessed, where we build together a future that can be as great as our dreams allow.
This is what we want as Travellers. This is what we all want in Irish society. We cannot continue to deny opportunities to people within communities and we cannot deny opportunities to the Traveller community because that has been done for generations. Now it is time for us all to move forward together. We have to let bygones be bygones and we need to move forward together. All of us in both Houses must take responsibility for ensuring the recommendations become action.
People who know me on a personal level will be aware that I come from a family of wheeling and dealing, if you like, at markets and so on. We would always ask, "Would you put your name to it?" if we were about to buy or do something. My question to every Deputy present in this House is: will they put their names to this report? Will they put their names to these 84 recommendations, or even just to the four I spoke about today in this House? The work is not over; it is just beginning. Let us build on that. It is as great as all of our dreams allow. We all have the answers; it is about implementation.
Travellers play an equal part of Irish society. This Parliament has been here for 100 years and now it has a member of the Traveller community. We are moving towards a better Ireland for everybody but it needs to be a more inclusive Ireland. The money is there. It is about implementation and changing people's lives. Let us be the Dáil and Seanad for a better change. Let us be part of that better change by making sure Travellers have a better future. We in the Traveller community do not have the power; the Government has it. For decades, Travellers have been failed as a community. It can no longer continue. I hope with all my heart that it will no longer continue.
Members rose and applauded.

I welcome the report. I thank the Chairman of the committee, Senator Flynn, as well as the Vice Chairman, Deputy Ó Cuív, and the staff of the committee for the time and effort they put into it. I also wish to thank the members of the Travelling community in Dublin, Cork and Galway for welcoming us into their communities and homes and being so generous with their time. I welcome our visitors in the Public Gallery.

This report contains 84 recommendations across the areas of health, education, housing and employment. The Acting Chairman is probably happy to know that I do not have time to speak to all those sections, but my colleagues will touch on some of the recommendations later. There are 18 recommendations relating to housing. Recommendations 68 to 71, inclusive, highlight the need for a national audit of living conditions and safety concerns on all Traveller-specific sites. These must be addressed. On one of my visits, Deputy Joan Collins and I met a man who invited us into his home. When we went in, the man had to advise us where to stand because the floors were ready to give way. The windows were rattling. There was mould and damp all over his home. The sockets were burnt out. Would any of the Members present live in those conditions? The man told us all he wanted was somewhere safe to which he could bring his grandchildren.

Recommendation 74 suggests that a national Traveller accommodation body should be established to oversee Traveller accommodation policy. Traveller organisations have been calling for this for years. The committee heard from many witnesses who spoke about discrimination faced by the Traveller community in trying to access housing. There is no doubt that is why they are over-represented in the homeless figures. The State has an appalling history in delivering culturally appropriate accommodation for Travellers. We have seen council budgets go unspent even though there was an obvious need for accommodation. Local authorities must do much more to deliver on this.

In the section on education, recommendations 22 and 23 point to the need for the restoration of Traveller funding in the context of education. That funding was cut in 2011 and 2012. The report recommends that targeted resources be made available for Traveller children in mainstream education. The Minister, Deputy Foley, needs to make sure the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill 2018 is enacted. We require a national Traveller education strategy, as suggested in recommendation 24 and 32.

The Government needs to implement this report. It cannot sit on a shelf, gathering dust like all other reports. The Government has a duty of care to the Traveller community across all Departments. I believe this report is an opportunity for it to fulfil that duty.

In 2019, when I was mayor of South Dublin County Council, I launched a report on Traveller mental health by the Clondalkin Travellers development group. The report found that nearly 80% of Travellers surveyed in south Dublin stated either they or someone in their family had suffered from depression. This compares with just 8% of the general population. The report identified the factors impacting negatively on Traveller mental health as loneliness, discrimination, drug addiction, family break-up, children's mental health and financial hardships. Why do I mention that? It is 2022 and the findings of the report before the House show that very little has changed since 2019. I acknowledge the work of the Oireachtas committee in producing the report. In particular, I thank the Chairman, Senator Flynn, my colleagues Deputies Ellis and Mitchell, and the Vice Chairman, Deputy Ó Cuív.

The report outlines there is a crisis in mental health in the Traveller community. I note that 90% of Travellers agreed that mental health problems were common in their community, with suicide being the cause of 11% of Traveller deaths. I will repeat that. Suicide is the cause of 11% of Traveller deaths. That is seven times higher than the rate among the general population. While we can all get lost in statistics, behind each one of those percentages there is a man, woman or child with hopes, dreams and aspirations just like anybody else. As Senator Flynn stated, we need a national strategy for Traveller mental health and we need to have all the underpinning requirements in that strategy.

The report outlines the causes and conditions affecting mental health within the Traveller community. Travellers experience racism and exclusion daily. Deficient and substandard living conditions such as those referred to by Deputy Mitchell, as well as precarious accommodation and homelessness, have a severe detrimental impact on mental health. Lower educational outcomes have a damaging impact on employment opportunities, while chronic unemployment then leads to negative consequences on mental health.

In my previous role, which involved working with people from marginalised communities, I had a lot of engagement with Exchange House. It delivers mental health supports in a culturally appropriate way to the Traveller community. One of the recommendations of the report is that increased funding should be provided for the delivery of peer-led Traveller-specific mental health supports through the Traveller primary healthcare team. I know the work the Traveller primary healthcare team does in my area. It is one of the unsung groups that were not recognised during Covid. It was at the forefront, going into the Traveller community to deliver healthcare and advice, including in respect of Covid, and it needs to be recognised for that.

We also need projects in local areas to provide timely interventions in the context of poor Traveller mental health.

Early intervention is key. We need to have things in place for young Traveller men and women in respect of suicide prevention, as has been mentioned. I am a bit like Senator Flynn, as I am a wheeler-dealer and she has my word that I will be putting my name to this report. I congratulate her and all of our colleagues again on such a fabulous report.

I will start by thanking Senator Flynn and all of the members on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community for both their hard work and for this very important report. I would also like to acknowledge the fact the Government gave time to Senator Flynn to speak with us today. I hope this is not the last time that she speaks on this issue on behalf of the Government. If she got to speak on its behalf more often, Traveller public policy would be in a much better place.

I acknowledge the hard work of all of the organisations, including Traveller, equality and anti-racist groups, in the Gallery because if it were not for their work, many of the issues that we are talking about today would not be in the public arena at all. I hope the Government acknowledges and continues to fund them and to increase their funding.

As my party’s housing spokesperson, I want to clearly say that I put my name to every single one of the 18 recommendations specifically relating to accommodation in the report, and in doing so I put the name of our party. They are eminently sensible, most of them are not new and they should be implemented as a matter of urgency.

There is a problem, however, because many years ago the Government commissioned a report on Traveller accommodation. Professor Michelle Norris undertook the study on behalf of the Housing Agency and it was published in 2017. That led to the formation of another group, the expert group on Traveller accommodation in 2018, and almost three years ago it made 32 separate recommendations to Government to tackle the very issues that this report, which we are discussing today, identifies. The overwhelming majority of those recommendations have not been implemented. There is no point in us sitting here today calling for the implementation of the recommendations of the new report when the outstanding recommendations in its predecessor remain on the shelf. In fact, some of the most substantive recommendations of that report are not even in the pipeline. We have to deal with Part 8 planning applications and with section 183 land transfers and ensure that Traveller accommodation programmes have a statutory binding implementation plan. We need an agency above the local authorities and independent of Government to ensure that where local authorities and Government are in dereliction of their plans, then responsibility for implementation of those plans is transferred to that agency to ensure their full implementation.

In the few seconds I have left I want to speak briefly about the spending on Traveller accommodation. I acknowledge that under the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, for two years in a row the Traveller accommodation budget has been spent in full. That is new, is welcome and deserves credit. The problem is that the budget is too small and the money that is being spent is not tackling the core issues. If one looks at the most recent figures of the Department, a tiny number of new units of Traveller-specific accommodation have been delivered while a large number of local authorities are still spending nothing on either upgrading existing facilities or on providing new facilities. We do not, therefore, just need the legislative policy changes but we need a commitment from Government to dramatically increase the funding for the direct provision of culturally appropriate Traveller accommodation. If the Government does that, it will have willing partners and supporters on these sides of the benches.

I call Deputy Lahart who I believe is sharing with Deputy Leddin.

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak today. I congratulate Senator Flynn not only on her contribution to the report but on her contribution to the Seanad.

In no particular order, I was struck by a number of things. I served as a county councillor on South Dublin County Council along with Deputies Ward and Ó Broin, although I was there before either of them. As such I was very fortunate to work under one of the most exemplary public servants on this issue and other issues, the late Joe Horan, who was chief executive of that council and transformed it in so many ways. The reason I think of him was that one of the points raised here was about public bodies doing more in regard to the employment of Travellers. The late Mr. Horan led the way on that. It was not just in respect of Travellers but those with disabilities also. He always did more than was required of him under law as a chief executive in employing percentages of both in the council. They were visible and worked in County Hall in Tallaght. There is a beautiful park, Seán Keating Garden, adjacent to Rathfarnham Castle commemorating the life of this artist who was quite active in painting on behalf of the State and left an artistic legacy behind him, particularly in places like Ballyroan church and in other areas. All of the masonry work carried out in Seán Keating Garden, which I would invite anybody who is passing Rathfarnham Castle to visit, was carried out by members of the Traveller community who were employed by South Dublin County Council. South Dublin County Council is unique in that regard.

There are, to the best of my knowledge, no Travellers employed in the Houses of the Oireachtas but I could be wrong. One could go far to find Travellers employed in any Government Department. If Joe Horan could do it in South Dublin County Council, there is no reason every chief executive of every local authority in this country could not do it. That is a challenge and something I will sign up to. It is one of the points that has been made.

On living conditions, there is a particular Traveller accommodation in my constituency which I visited just before the Covid-19 pandemic. It has one of the best views of Dublin and is on the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. There are ten homes there but only five of them were occupied at the time that I visited for reasons beyond my understanding. The people who live in that accommodation are denied that view of Dublin Bay, Dublin city, the Pigeon House and all of the other sites one can see because of the fortress wall built around it. For the ten or 15 minutes I was there, I must say that I felt quite claustrophobic. I asked our director of housing in South Dublin County Council, another very good man, would he not consider creating some kind of visual gaps in this wall so that when people walk out of the front door in the morning, they are not just looking at masonry but have a wider view to take in.

Many people are going to dwell on particular points in the report but I just want to make a point about different local authorities carrying out and fulfilling their responsibilities. In South Dublin County Council, since I was elected in 1999, all of the councillors - it was a 26-member body then - tended to stick together and support each other when it came to the provision of Traveller accommodation and as a result there was a good and balanced spread of Traveller accommodation in each and every electoral ward in the county. We tended to spend the budget that was given to us. That was not and is not the same in adjacent counties. One of the scandals that was referred to earlier, but obviously it is changing, is of local authorities not spending the allocated amount they are given for Traveller accommodation.

One of the things I would like noted is that a local authority cannot do this by itself but it can assist settled residential communities by providing a framework and structure for both of these communities to meet because they never meet and yet their children meet and play together in school and do all of the things children do in school. The adult communities, however, never meet and there is a real fear, bias and stereotyping that prevents them from meeting. It is only through meeting and communicating that those stereotypes and biases will be broken down.

I remember bringing this to a service we have in south Dublin, South Dublin County Mediation Service, as a particular issue had arisen, and the service was very enthusiastic about playing a particular role and getting involved in this.

I see Deputy Leddin has arrived and I was speaking as though all of the time was mine. My apologies to my colleague for that. There are things I wanted to say around the mental health piece and so on but the point I wish to finish on is the Joe Horan piece. If we had more chief executives in charge of county councils like the late Joe Horan, Travellers would be in a much better position as would society.

I thank Deputy Lahart. First, I welcome the Chairperson of the committee, Senator Flynn, to the House. She is an activist, a fighter for human rights and a role model not just for the Traveller community but for all society. I welcome the visitors in the Visitors Gallery. Senator Flynn spoke very eloquently. I was watching the proceedings in my office and watched and heard the round of applause. It was very well deserved. She has produced a report that gets through to people like me, who are not of her community and who are privileged in our society. From my reading of the report so far, and I will get through all of it, that is a fundamental success of the report. I also commend the committee. I understand it is a very hard-working committee. Under Senator Flynn's guidance the committee conducted extensive research, visited sites around the country and engaged with stakeholders in the production of the report.

From my reading of the report, I can see that Travellers have been moved to the edges of our society. They have been physically separated and socially excluded. They have been excluded from policy and decision-making on issues that affect them. They have been subject to persistent disadvantage and segregation. The road to formal recognition was long, and the official recognition as an indigenous ethnic minority in 2017 was long overdue. The progress to full inclusion and acceptance of Traveller identity and culture in this country is slow. As Senator Flynn said, there have been numerous reports and studies produced which have highlighted the difficulties and challenges faced by the Traveller community. Unfortunately, it is clear that these have not succeeded in improving conditions in Travellers' lives. I believe this report, by making that point, will have an effect because Senator Flynn has captured that fundamental failure in how we have treated Travellers in this society since the foundation of the State.

I read the executive summary. I do not have time to go into it now, but it is incredibly compelling. I encourage everybody to read it. It is stark. I could go on about the shorter life expectancy of Travellers, the suicide rates, the low educational attainment and the underspend of local authorities, at €72 million in the last decade. This points to a fundamental failure of our society to help the Traveller community to integrate, succeed and flourish. As I do not have any more time, I will conclude.

In response to Deputy Lahart, we certainly have had members of the Traveller community working in the House, although sadly not enough. You made a very valid point and it is something I will personally take up with the Public Appointments Service. We might encourage Deputies, Senators and the political parties to look to the Traveller community when they are employing staff.

I call Deputy Ellis.

First, I welcome everybody who has come to the Visitors Gallery today from the various organisations. It is great that everyone is here. I also welcome this comprehensive report on the Traveller community. Senator Flynn, as chairperson of the committee, has done a marvellous job in the committee. She has been outstanding. In addition, the members of the committee have been very good across the board. The commitment to make this report possible has been massive and everybody has had a major input into it. I thank all those who made submissions to the committee. We had a very broad range of submissions from across the community, local authorities, Departments and groups and organisations as diverse as sporting organisations, the Prison Service, community activists and medical organisations and, most important, the Traveller organisations and their community.

The voice of Travellers is rarely heard and rarely given a platform to express Travellers' concerns. This committee has given members of the Traveller community a great opportunity to have a voice and to have a part in what is being produced. The number of Traveller organisations that actively engaged with the committee is impressive. They gave us a great insight into the difficulties that the community faces each day. They were articulate in explaining their concerns and outlining what needs to be done for their community.

This report follows other reports from previous years. There are recommendations and observations in this report that are not necessarily new. They have appeared in previous reports but were never acted on. That is a real concern. Good work has been done previously, but we found in our discussions with Traveller groups that the concerns they expressed in previous years still pertain today. My hope is that the recommendations in this report will be fully implemented and followed up.

We witnessed at first hand many of the issues in the different areas. We visited various sites, such as Carrowbrowne in Galway, Spring Lane in Cork and St. Margaret's and Labre Park in Dublin. I am more familiar with St. Margaret's and the halting site in St. Joseph's Park in Finglas. The concerns I have seen in the halting sites in my constituency of Dublin North-West mirror the concerns throughout the country. On occasions, it was very depressing to see some of the conditions and the problems facing the Traveller community. We have to admit as a society that discrimination still exists. It is common for many Traveller families and individuals to encounter discrimination daily. That is totally unacceptable.

There are 84 recommendations in this report. It is up to us as public representatives and members of the Traveller community and of the community to push these recommendations and force the Government to act. This is a very worthwhile report and I hope we get full support across the board.

First, I thank and commend Senator Flynn, in her capacity as chairperson of the Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community, all the members of the committee and the wider participants on creating this vital report that so starkly presents not only the inequalities but also the structural violence faced by Irish Travellers. I also acknowledge the ferocity in the call in the report to act on the 84 recommendations. The Social Democrats will absolutely put our name to it.

I am conscious that I will not be able to talk about all the elements of the report in five minutes. As somebody who is passionate about education, I am particularly focused on that aspect. However, I will briefly mention some of the statistics relating to health, mental health, suicide rates and housing inequalities that I believe encapsulate the structural violence that is faced every day by members of the Traveller community. Life expectancy in the Traveller community is 15.1 years shorter for men and 11.5 years shorter for women than it is among the wider public. The infant mortality rate for Traveller children is 3.6 times the rate for the general population. Irish Traveller mothers are by far the most over-represented group who suffer perinatal deaths. Despite this, there is little specific mention of this in the national maternity strategy and no mention of it in the national maternity strategy implementation plan.

Some 90% of Travellers agreed that mental health problems were common in their community, and suicide is the cause of 11% of Traveller deaths, which is six times higher than is the case in the general population. The report of the Ombudsman for Children, No End in Site, highlighted the deplorable living conditions in one halting site, where there were approximately 140 people using toilets and washing facilities designed for 40 people, leading to stress, tension and, inevitably at times, conflict. Today, it is even more disheartening, but not surprising, that a statement issued by the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance states that there has been no major improvement in the living conditions of Travellers over the past three years. The pandemic has encapsulated and placed a spotlight on many worrying inequalities, and in the intersectionality of that we see the oppression once more of the Traveller community. It is very clear that this comes down to a form of structural violence, a system if not designed for but certainly apathetic to the plight of people in the Traveller community, and which for generations forced oppression on that community.

I often speak in this Chamber about participation in, and access to, education.

There are those who will never know how easy their journey through the formal education system has been and there are those who face so many barriers to participation that they are essentially pushed out. Those who are pushed out are made to believe they are the problem and not that the system has failed them. I often speak about the postcode lottery and how stark the differences are between wealthy areas and low-income areas. That pales in comparison to the attrition rates for Travellers in education due to a system designed to oppress. The 2016 census, the most recent census we have, showed that 13% of Travellers attained higher secondary level or more compared to more than 70% in the more general population. A total of 17.7% of Traveller children have no education in comparison to 1.4% of the general population.

In 2016 only 167 Irish Travellers had the opportunity to avail of a third level qualification. As someone who has availed of access programmes I know in a small way what it is like to be considered a target group because of presupposed disadvantage. I acknowledge how exceptional these 167 students are and the others who have gone through the journey since 2016. They should absolutely not be the exception to the rule as is the case. Everyone should have the chance to succeed and progress in our education system. We cannot be satisfied with a few succeeding against the odds. We have to change the very system itself.

Given these facts, it always riles me when there is talk about the education system being a meritocracy. As it stands, it has the main aim of reproducing and reinforcing existing inequalities. The reality of these statistics demonstrates a culture in the State of low expectations for Traveller students. Pavee Point has stated that funding for Traveller education supports were cut by 86.6% between 2008 and 2013, compared to a 4.3% cut in overall Government spending. Much of this reduction was made in the name of mainstreaming without carefully monitoring the situation to ensure the same educational outcomes and interventions, with additional support if and when needed.

There is a consistent idea that if we treat everyone the same despite their differences, this somehow represents true equality. This is absolutely false. It sets many people up to fail. There is no inevitability that Traveller life, health, educational and employment outcomes should be so starkly contrasted to those in the wider population. We can and must act to change this. As Senator Flynn stated in the foreword of the report, recognising differences while being treated equally is what is being asked. The 84 recommendations of the report need to be implemented. Otherwise it will become inevitable by design and by will that the continued repression and structural violence faced by the Traveller community will continue. The Social Democrats absolutely put our name to the 84 recommendations in the report.

I very much welcome the opportunity to discuss the report. It is particularly timely and fitting that it is discussed in the week we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the declaration of Traveller ethnicity. It was extremely important, symbolically and otherwise, in the history of the State to officially recognise the contribution Travellers have made to our society.

The report lays out in stark terms what we all knew before we read it, which is that there is a persistent and systemic problem in how the State treats an ethnic community within the State. I agree with Deputy Leddin. It is a report that deserves to be read because it gives a window and insight into the lived experiences of Travelling people in our society. It is something we should acknowledge and face up to.

Members will know that before I arrived in Leinster House, I was a primary school teacher. Members might not know that in the primary school history curriculum for senior class groups there is a strand on continuity and change over time. It has a suggested unit dealing with nomadism. When I was putting together a unit of work on it for my sixth class group I could find any amount of material on African peoples who are nomadic and any amount of information on indigenous peoples in Australia who are still nomadic. Throughout all of the textbooks available to me I could find one paragraph that dealt with the Travelling community in Ireland. How must it feel as a child from the Travelling community in our classrooms to experience this level of invisibility in our society? Try as I might, I could not find a good quality resource that I could bring to my sixth class to teach them about an ethnic group that exists in our own country. In this regard I very much welcome the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill, to which Senator Flynn made reference. The inclusion of Traveller culture and history in the school curriculum would have a huge positive effect. Travellers would feel seen in our classrooms. It would help us to celebrate in a positive way the contribution Travellers have made to our culture.

I will take a slightly different approach because the Chair and members of the committee are present and they know the report in-depth with a detail that I do not have. I want to apply the lens of the sustainable development goals to this area and the committee's report. We wear the nice shiny badge and it looks very well on the lapel. Often we think the sustainable development goals are something that happen overseas and far away from us. We might have an idea of the 17 goals but I do not know how often we dig down into the sub-targets beneath the goals. I propose to do this in the time I have.

Goal No. 1, which calls for no hunger, sets out a target addressing poverty. I do not for a moment suggest that every child who turned up in my classroom hungry in the morning came from the Travelling community. This is absolutely not the case. Often the backgrounds of the children who turned up hungry would surprise people. We know there is an issue with poverty rates in our Travelling community. This needs to be addressed. I do not think we are meeting this sustainable development goal in our State.

Goal No. 3 is about good health and well-being. The report sets this out in the clearest terms, as Deputy Gannon stated. We know that life expectancy for men in the Travelling community is 15.1 years shorter and for women it is 11 and a half years shorter than for people in the settled community. We know about the infant mortality rate. It is 3.6 times higher in the Travelling community then it is in the settled community. This is completely unacceptable.

We also know there is a mental health crisis in the Travelling community. We know that suicide is the cause of 11% of Traveller deaths. We know where it comes from. We know Travellers live in a society where racism is ingrained and, worse, is accepted. This should not be the case. I can absolutely understand the pressure. I know it is particularly young men in the Travelling community who take their own lives. There are also wider health implications. Mortality rates for cancer, cardiovascular disease and others causes of death are also significantly higher. I do not believe we have vindicated this goal in the State.

As for the goal on quality education, Senator Flynn serves on the education committee with me. The report states Travellers have severely worse education outcomes than the general population with lower retention and completion rates. We know education is the key to unlocking so much in our society. It tackles all of the other things. It tackles mental health issues. It tackles persistent poverty rates. It allows people to reach places they may not otherwise reach.

Goal No. 6 is to ensure clean water and sanitation. Recently I heard Senator Flynn speak on radio about wearing white socks to the school. I thought about the temporary halting site on the Green Road, which is about half a mile from where I grew up. I thought about the level of sanitation available there. I thought about the difficulty for mothers to send their children to school clean. When the children do not turn up to the school clean, what do they face? How does that make them feel when they arrive? That such a developed country does not meet these standards of sanitation and clean water for a section of our population is an indictment.

Goal No. 8 is about decent work and economic growth. With regard to labour market participation, the report found that just over 80% of Travellers in the labour force were unemployed. A total of 43% of travellers reported discrimination when seeking employment, while only 17% of the public stated they would employ a Traveller. This very much goes to what the Ceann Comhairle spoke about and the responsibility that rests on all of us.

Goal No. 10 to be achieved by 2030 is to reduce inequalities by empowering and promoting the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, economic or other status.

Senator Flynn said that, as she came in here, one of the ushers told her she very much deserved to be here on her own merit. I have seen how she has contributed on the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and how, with that lens and lived understanding, she has informed the work of the committee. We see how the representation of diverse communities adds to these Houses of the Oireachtas. I commend Senator Flynn on the excellent work she and all members of the committee have undertaken. As Deputy Leddin said, it is a report that richly deserves to be read and which provides insight into a community that has so far been poorly represented in our democracy.

I thank Deputy Ó Cathasaigh very much for those words of wisdom.

I welcome Senator Flynn and commend her, Deputy Ó Cuív and all other members of the committee on their important work. I am delighted to get a chance to talk about this report on the key issues facing the Traveller community. I will quickly commend all of those who work in the Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group who have been on the ground working with vulnerable families and individuals, providing food parcels, personal protective equipment and support throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Just before the pandemic, Councillor Breda Hanaphy and I, along with Colette from the Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group, went around and visited the Traveller sites in Dublin 15, the Dublin West area. I challenge any Minister to visit these sites and see the conditions people are living in. To say they are appalling would be an understatement. For a Traveller community, "temporary" means 20 years or more. I will focus on one site I visited, located at St. Brigid's Lawn, which is ten minutes away from my house. There is a litany of issues there, including emergency health and safety issues and other long-term issues. St. Brigid's Lawn is on Porterstown Road in Clonsilla. It has been 30 years since the residents were moved from a site on Grove Road in Blanchardstown, which is ironically now the site of the head offices of Fingal County Council. Following long and difficult negotiations, a limited number of issues have been addressed but others have not. The day units are nothing short of a disgrace. The overcrowding on this site leaves it a Carrickmines tragedy waiting to happen.

These families live in St. Brigid's Lawn, which is covered in the Kellystown local area plan. In the coming years, 1,000 new houses and apartments are to be built along with schools, community facilities and sports facilities. I tried to use the local area plan, and Councillor Hanaphy tried to use the county development plan, to ensure that, when Kellystown is being developed, the existing extended family currently living in St. Brigid's Lawn, who are exceptionally well-integrated into the community, would be given the opportunity to continue to rear their families in their home area. How many extra bays will be allocated to St. Brigid's Lawn? One. They are being given a space the size of a couple of car-parking spaces in a development of more than 1,000 units.

I would also like to address the issue of educational attainment in the Traveller community. Over my years working in the school completion programme and Youthreach, I have seen the desire of so many from the Traveller community to stay in education but the hurdles they face are immense. One of the cruellest cuts made during the austerity, which still gets to me, was the complete removal of every single visiting teacher for Travellers. The whole scheme was completely abandoned. Along with other measures such as the 37% cut to the school completion programme, of which I was part, this had an devastating impact on Travellers' involvement in education. It again showed how quickly the Travelling community is kicked aside.

I endorse the call for a national Traveller mental health strategy. The figures for suicide among the Travelling community are beyond comprehension. Some 56% of Travellers reported poor physical and mental health as opposed to 24% of the rest of the population. Some 67% of men and 59% of women reported that their mental health was not good for one or more days in the past 30 days. It is clear that this report comes at a very important time but it is just another in a litany of reports. The most important word we need to hear with regard to this report is "implementation" 84 times.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Flynn as a bheith anseo agus as na focail a dúirt sí linn inniu. I thank the Senator very much for the report. It was very interesting to work with her. Well done to her. I was very interested in what Deputy Ó Cathasaigh was saying about the curriculum in the schools. The report is a really useful tool. It is a rich collection of statistics all in the one place. They jump at you because the statistics on all of these areas, employment, housing, health and education, really speak for themselves and explain, without requiring you to wonder about it, that there is systemic discrimination against Travellers in all aspects of our lives. What Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said about trying to find a reference to nomadic people in our curriculum speaks volumes. Our curriculum is designed by people who work in the Department of Education, which is run by whoever is in this House at a given time. If the Deputy found it difficult to find such a reference, there is obviously a systemic problem. It does not just fall from the sky that there is no regard for the nomadic history of the Travellers in Ireland, nor does it fall from the sky that there is a high rate of suicide among Traveller men, that there is low educational attainment in that community or that 27% of Travellers leave school before the age of 13, which is a shocking statistic in this day and age. It might not have been 40 or 50 years ago, but it is now. There is a reason for those things. They have a systemic history and there is a systemic reason for them.

I experienced this as the chairperson of the Traveller accommodation programme in Dublin City Council. I chaired that group for four or five years. It was like bashing your head against a brick wall because you could get the co-operation of council officials verbally and in their body language - they would say "Yes" to this or to that and that they would do the other - but nothing was ever achieved because, on every level on which you tried to move forward, you were blocked from making the progress you needed to make. We visited Labre Park in Ballyfermot as part of the committee's work. That has actually gone backwards in terms of the promises that were made. The residents were promised regeneration more than 20 years ago. There was a promise that 40-odd houses would be regenerated. It is now down to approximately 15 in 2022. The residents are hopeful that they might get 15. The consequence of this is that the council ends up saying that Travellers actually prefer settled accommodation and do not really want Traveller-specific accommodation. Travellers are forced to choose or accept settled accommodation because the authorities are not delivering on the promise of Traveller-specific accommodation. It is integration almost by oppression. It is completely the wrong approach and it will not work. It will contribute to poor mental health, bad outcomes and a lack of confidence and self-sustainability.

In every aspect of the work we do in giving political leadership, we need to be very conscious of that. Never again should we see a political leaflet used to gather support or votes in any kind of election by undermining the Traveller community in the local area. That should never happen again but it has happened. There should be laws in place for cases where it does happen. The report is really important but, as the previous Deputy said, acting on it is even more important because, if we do not do that, all we are doing is perpetuating the systemic racism that exists in our society that prohibits and inhibits change from the very roots.

It is also very important that we recognise on a historical level the role the Traveller community has played in enriching our culture, our music, our diversity and our language. To set that aside and say it does not matter is to be soulless and to disregard what we, as a population, are made of. The Traveller community and its culture is a great part of that. There needs to be an aspect to this that looks into how to preserve and promote that culture and how to give more than just lip service to that culture by saying things like Travellers are wonderful actors, singers, dancers or whatever. Fundamentally, if we do not change the conditions under which Travellers live and really take seriously the problems in all four categories highlighted in this report, we will be failing yet again. I sincerely hope we do not do that.

I thank Senator Flynn for the leadership she is showing in driving the committee to deliver this report with its 84 recommendations. Tuesday was the anniversary of the day we recognised Traveller ethnicity. This has been a long struggle by the Travelling community to have their unique ethnic status recognised by the State. We did so about five years ago. While it was an important symbolic decision to make, very little has changed as a result of that. We now need more than just symbolism and words. To quote Senator Flynn, we need to put our name on it as Deputies and Ministers.

The recommendations in the report cut across many Departments. I will be writing to the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to include oversight of these recommendations. How are we going to do this? How are we going to put our name to it? How are we going to keep an eye on it to ensure this work is being done? This cuts across many committees. I am sure other Deputies will be doing the same thing. This affects the committees on housing, children, justice and education. We need to make time in our workflow as the months go on to ensure we are putting our name to it. The last thing we need to do is to allow the report to gather dust.

I looked through some of the report's recommendations, thinking back through the work we did. As Deputy Bríd Smith said, we went to Labre Park which is in my and her constituency. Among those in Labre Park, the sense of betrayal and of being let down by Dublin City Council and the powers that be was palpable. Some good community work was being done and there were some great people with very clear and articulate voices in the community. However, their simple demands for a space that was not infested with rats were not being met by Dublin City Council.

Senator Flynn referred to a €72 million budget for housing that had not been spent. If local authorities are not spending the budget, we need to take the responsibility away from them and ensure we are delivering. If local authorities and councillors are not delivering on Traveller accommodation, we need to find ways to do that. One of the recommendations is a national Traveller accommodation authority to take that power to push these things through and to ensure that whoever is in charge of the Traveller accommodation committee - whoever has replaced Deputy Bríd Smith on Dublin City Council - is not running into the same roadblocks and banging their head off the same wall. It is all well and good for us to talk about it, but behind that as we all know, large numbers of Travellers are struggling without decent accommodation.

Other Deputies have spoken about the knock-on consequences on health and mental health. We need to find where those blocks are and get them out of the way. If the blocks are our local authorities, then we need to get them out of the way and we need to take powers from them if that is what it takes. It is only by recognising inequality that we can begin to address at. Establishing a joint committee was definitely a good first step, but it is now up to the rest of us to keep pushing, to keep asking and to put our names to it.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste agus, go háirithe, leis an Seanadóir Eileen Flynn as ucht na tuairisce seo atá an-tábhachtach. I take the opportunity to congratulate Dr. Sindy Joyce who is taking up her role as lecturer at the University of Limerick. They will be very lucky to have this outstanding academic put her particular and informed focus on Traveller, racial and ethnic studies. No more than in any part of our community where women take their place and use their voice, we can make the future better for everyone.

The report contains 84 recommendations, 18 of them relating to accommodation. I would like to speak from my experience as a councillor on Kildare County Council local Traveller accommodation consultative committee, LTACC. During my term on that committee, it was an all-women group of left-wing councillors who worked really well with the Travellers in our municipal districts. We worked hard to spend our allocation on a particular site we were working on but we could not. There was illness in the family, but in my experience the lack of urgency was the real illness that was deep at the heart of the official council level. Given my experience, I wholeheartedly recommend recommendation 74 that a national Traveller accommodation authority be established to oversee Traveller accommodation policy and have an input into the Traveller accommodation programme in each local authority. I would also like to see sanctions on local authorities that do not spend their allocation. We need accountability.

The Dáil recognised Traveller ethnicity and we must acknowledge the nomadic aspect of their culture. In terms of seasonal Travelling and meeting, it is beyond me how each county cannot designate an excellent facility where Travellers can come with the normal comforts of showers, electricity, bin collections, recycling etc. If we are willing to do this for settled people, I do not see why we cannot do it for Travellers. This was something I also put to the LTACC in Kildare County Council and he looked at me as if I had two heads. I am ready to put my name to this report and we need to act on it. Local authorities need to do their bit. In my experience it is not the elected councillors who stop this but the officials at local authority level and they have to be held accountable for that.

I also welcome Senator Flynn and congratulate her and her committee on the report. I assure her that she is more than welcome and entitled to be in this House. This is an incredibly important document and, as the committee Chair has said, we cannot let this become just another report. We must put an end to the policies and practice that have failed the Traveller community. That is why it is important to highlight the findings of this report and its 84 recommendations. Among the many issues the Traveller community contends with are the scourges of discrimination, racism and exclusion. The report outlines worse health outcomes than in the settled community, the mental health crisis being experienced, the lower education retention and completion rates and accommodation shortfalls.

Regarding health, the committee heard that concerns over racism and discrimination underpin Travellers' lack of engagement with health services with 53% of Travellers fearing unfair treatment from healthcare providers. That is why I support the committee's call for the national Traveller health plan to be published urgently and for an independent implementation body to be established to drive its delivery. The Travelling community is also experiencing a mental health crisis. A suicide rate of 11% was recorded in 2010 which is seven times higher than in the settled community. Given the lack of engagement over fear of unfair treatment by healthcare providers, it is only right that the committee is calling for a ring-fenced health budget for the Traveller community within the HSE and for the appointment of a Department lead on Traveller health and mental health to monitor the progress, actions and initiatives across Departments.

The report states: "The health status of Travellers is impacted by a range of social determinants, most severely by overcrowded and substandard living conditions." It also outlines instances where the State and local authorities have failed to implement the measures to assist the Traveller community in this regard. While I do not have time to go into it right now-----

The Deputy is right; he does not.

-----I urge all Oireachtas Members, and local authority members and officials to read the report and to act. I will also put my name to it.

As Deputy Bríd Smith said, it is up to the 160 Members of this House, Senators and councillors throughout the country to ensure we put pressure on local authorities to implement the recommendations. I will be doing that on their behalf.

The Deputy is taking advantage of my gentle nature. Given the importance of the issue at hand, we can spare him the bit of time.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Seanadóir Eileen Flynn agus gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as an obair atá déanta ar an tuairisc seo freisin. I thank the committee for its report. When we talk about the issues affecting the Traveller community, many people are shocked to learn of the stark realities facing it. It is good to see the volume of statistics presented so clearly in this report. I will refer to some of them. Suicide is the cause of 11% of deaths in the Travelling community, which is an incredible figure. According to information supplied to the committee by the Department of Health, the mortality rate for respiratory diseases is 7.5 times higher among male Travellers than it is in the general population and it is 5.4 times higher among female Travellers.

This report also shows significant differentials in mortality from cancer, cardiovascular disease and health issues in general. The Irish College of General Practitioners reports that, per 1,000 live births, the infant mortality rate in the general population is 3.9, whereas among Travellers it is 14.1, which is absolutely shocking and a terrible indictment of what is happening in this society.

When it comes to mental health, is it any wonder the situation is so dire? The State has in recent years undertaken a concerted effort to stop Travellers from travelling. In 1963 we had the Commission on Itinerancy, which recommended assimilation of Travellers into the settled community. In 1983 we had the Report of the Travelling People Review Body, which reported on the integration of Travellers into mainstream society but without properly recognising, supporting or promoting their cultural identity. Then we had the housing Act of 1992 and the Roads Acts in the following years. Those Acts allowed local authorities to remove Travellers from their camps at the roadside. These are just some of the examples of the way in which the State has systematically tried to stop Travellers from travelling and to force them into housing. This was a direct and concerted attack on Traveller culture. Internationally, human rights abuses against minorities typically follow the same trend. A minority is discriminated against and told they must become more like us if they are to be welcomed and included in society. We in Aontú oppose this narrative wholeheartedly. Travellers should be made to feel welcome and included in our country, society and democracy, and there should be no preconditions whatsoever to that inclusivity. For years this State, through its laws and practices, has suggested that Travellers can be included in society only if they abandon their culture, and it is time we recognised that this is absolutely wrong.

I have heard some fantastic speeches today, but speeches mean nothing unless there are changes in society. I point especially to local authorities. All the political parties represented here have influence over what is happening on local authorities throughout the country. In recent years, I have done a lot of work looking at the funds that are spent on Traveller accommodation in each local authority around the country. It is amazing that, at a time of housing crisis, many local authorities, year after year, have returned that funding to central government in Dublin. I cannot understand how in a housing crisis there can be local authorities continuously returning funds to Dublin. That has changed recently, and I had hoped that change would be positive. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has taken over that role in the Department, and the system is such that there is a central pot of money provided by the Government and local authorities can extract that money for Traveller accommodation. However, now it is impossible, through freedom of information request or parliamentary question, to find out which local authorities are sending that money back and not drawing it down. There is a problem with the culture on certain county and city councils where councillors do not want to engage on the topic of Traveller accommodation because they see it as divisive. That shows cowardice on the part of some politicians who clearly want to keep their seats and feel there is an electoral cost to providing money to Traveller families for homes. In Galway, we saw tensions build so much that some people set fire to a house that had been designated for a Traveller family. After that incident, some of the politicians who were involved in stirring up that hatred went scrambling from that campaign pretty quickly. It takes hatred to strike a match in that regard. What happened was utterly shameful. I commend Deputy Ó Cuív, who stood up very strongly against that hatred and stood with the Delaney family.

I do not have long left to speak but I wish to remember a friend of mine, Michael McDonagh, who died recently. Michael was a tireless advocate of Travellers' rights. He was a founder and manager of Meath Travellers Workshop, and the contribution he made to society was huge, from helping Travellers engage with education to helping families who were struggling with life. He was an absolute gentleman and will be sorely missed in Navan and the wider Meath area. Our thoughts and prayers are with Nell and his children. I know that Michael would have agreed with the key point that we need to improve the life experiences of Travellers but that we should do so in a way that does not mean they have to abandon their culture. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Thank you, Deputy Tóibín, for mentioning your friend and colleague. I think the whole House would salute him and the work he did.

I am pleased to be here to discuss the report of the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community. I welcome Senator Flynn to the House. We look forward to seeing her here more often, I hope. I also wish to take a moment to acknowledge, as others have, Ronnie Fay, co-director of Pavee Point, who recently passed away. On this day last month, so many gathered to say goodbye to her. Ronnie was a tireless advocate for the Traveller community. Knowing her and engaging with her since I became Fine Gael spokesperson for equality was a privilege. It was a privilege to work with her and to have the benefit of her education and the depth of her knowledge and to learn from her. I am sorry she is not here today to see this very important report discussed in the Chamber.

The Traveller community has been all too isolated and neglected a part of our community in our society, often purposely pushed and bullied into the sidelines in ways that cannot be tolerated. The Traveller community has faced discrimination, racism and an inequality of opportunity that I and so many others have taken for granted entirely. The figures in this important report speak for themselves. Other speakers have cited them but I wish to do so also. The figures show much shorter life expectancies among Travellers, with 11% of Traveller deaths attributed to suicide and very important and serious concerns about health services and bullying in education settings. The latter is one of the things I find most difficult. I demand yet again that the Department of Education come forward with a serious and integrated national Traveller education strategy that seeks to address those issues, but I will come back to that. The figures show cuts to Traveller-specific education supports and difficulties obtaining ongoing employment outside of the community outlined in the report, with one in three Traveller households living in accommodation with no sewerage facilities and a further one in five living with no piped water source. They are stark figures. Water, a basic need, is just not there for one in five Traveller households.

We have spoken a lot about ensuring that our elected representatives are just that: representative of the people across our diverse shared communities in Ireland. However, we simply have not delivered for all the diverse communities in Ireland. I hope that the work ongoing in the Government, particularly this report, might give impetus and momentum to that work and help to deliver change. There have been some positive changes. In the two months leading up to Christmas, we heard from the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, who confirmed there was a full spend by local authorities of over €21 million for Traveller accommodation in 2021. That budget has increased in 2022. There is the requirement on local authorities to spend that money, and there are penalties for failing to do so. This report has been a particularly poor end-of-year report for local authorities, where year after year there has been that underspend. As other Deputies have said, that money goes back to the central allocation. However, I wish to mention briefly Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which has worked hard to buck that trend of underspending. That is fine to note, but that needs to be persistent and needs to be the basic standard and by no means the exception.

A few days before this report was published, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, announced ring-fenced funding to support Travellers and the Roma community in higher education, a 50% increase on last year's funding, now totalling €450,000. I go back to my point about the Department of Education and the need to bring forward the national Traveller education strategy. It has been in development for many years. I know it is at the top of Pavee Point's list of priorities. We have seen reports on children in the Traveller community in schools and how difficult it has been for them. There is bullying and isolation. We know there are teachers and principals who go out of their way to make children feel included, to make sure they have the services and supports they need, to try to identify, to stop and to have a zero-tolerance approach to racism and racist language in schools. That is not, however, the universal experience of children in the Traveller community in schools, which is simply not good enough.

There has been positive movement but we need to do more, as I said. This is not just about funding and supports; it is about the way we do things. It is about education in schools, educating people more broadly about racism and acknowledging that, unfortunately, it still very much exists in modern Ireland. It is about a level of understanding and respect, which we have been lacking, to live side by side and in an integrated way with consideration and respect for all people in their communities, their identities, the rich traditions that come from the different communities and how they can only contribute to one another and add to the vibrant culture that is Ireland.

I again acknowledge Senator Flynn and thank her for the work she has put into the special committee and the report. As I walked back into Leinster House after lunch today, I met her partner and daughter. The latter is too young to understand the impact of the work the Senator is doing, what it means and the legacy she is creating with that work and in being here. I note the Senator's representative function for Traveller women, the Traveller community more broadly and women more broadly and what it says about inclusivity and respect for each other. I am delighted to see her in the House. I did not know that was going to happen and it is important that it has and that her daughter will see it in time. I thank the Senator for her work on this and I hope it gives impetus to the Government to deliver in the way that is needed.

We go to the Independent Group slot, where Deputy Pringle is sharing with Deputy Connolly.

I welcome Senator Flynn to the House. It is great to see her here and I hope it will not be the last time she is here. I thank her and the committee for the important and timely report. It includes 84 recommendations, all of which are important. There are many facts in the report as well, as has been mentioned by many speakers. I will not go back over them but they are important and it is good to have them on the record. Unfortunately, they are facts that no country, government or parliament should be proud of in relation to a large part of its community and how that community has been treated.

We have an obligation to make sure today is not repeated. I do not want to come here in five years' time and have another report. This week is the fifth anniversary of the declaration of Traveller ethnicity. We should be coming here today to launch a report on the progress and what has been done to achieve the rights of Travellers across the country. I hope in five years' time or less we will have a report like that. It would be a tribute to the work Senator Flynn has done in the committee and to everybody in this House if that happened. Sadly, I fear it will not but we will work to make sure it is. The onus is on the Government to put in place policies and make sure funding is provided. I know everybody on this side of the House will support that and ensure it happens. However, the Government has to be willing to do it and have the balls to do it. That needs to happen over the next couple of years. Hopefully, it will and when we come here next time, we will talk about progress rather than restating recommendations that have been said before. That will be vital.

I welcome Senator Flynn. She said she came from a background of wheeling and dealing and she used those skills to great effect today when she went way beyond her time. Learning from that and building on those skills, maybe I will have the same success. She is the first Traveller ever elected to the Houses of the Oireachtas, which is significant, the first to address the Dáil, which is extremely significant, and her partner and child are here. We usually say behind every good man is a very good woman, but it is clear that there is a very good man behind the Senator, keeping her going and giving her the confidence and determination to persist, because that is what is needed. I welcome the distinguished visitors in the Gallery. It is great to see it after Covid, and for many reasons.

The report makes 84 recommendations in four areas. It is important to say the committee pays tribute and "was struck by the resilience of the Traveller community in the face of decades of deprivation, poverty and discrimination" and other things besides. Then it gives the recommendations and statistics.

To put it in context, as Deputy Tóibín did to some extent, in 1963, we had a Commission on Itinerancy. All of the facts were the same. Nothing has changed except the language. That commission identified itinerants, as they were called, as the problem. it appealed to charity and religious organisations to deal with and remove the problem and the cases of hostility and antipathy by strict enforcement of the law to restore public confidence. It wanted to invoke the influence of local clergy and local religious, charitable and welfare organisations to deal with the problem. We continue to other the problem and when we other differences rather than cherishing them, it is at a great cost to our democracy. That is what we are asked here in three languages, namely, English, Irish and Cant:

Difríochtaí a aithint le linn caitheamh linn go cothrom. Is é cothrom na féinne amháin atá uainn.

Recognising difference while being treated equally. All we want is fairness.

If we look from 1963 to now, which is almost 60 years, we are faced with the same range of problems. We have to ask ourselves as public representatives what is going on. We deplore what is happening in local authorities but most of us were in local authorities. I echo what Deputy Bríd Smith said. I spent five years on a Traveller accommodation committee. It was the worst experience of my life. I did not go back on it. I did my best during those five years but it was extremely difficult to cope with the duplicitous language and the failure to act. Traveller representatives on the committee were not free to speak because they were utterly dependent on the local authority. I would never go back to that position.

We have failed to comply with our legal obligations. We talk about sanctions but we have done all of this already. All the city and county managers have powers to act. We should not be in a position where accommodation is not being rolled out.

I am not sure how much more time I can wheedle but as long as I can go on, I will. The four areas were health, education, housing and economy. There were contributions from Galway from the Galway Traveller Movement and Bounce Back Recycling. It is apparent that there are positive solutions to all of this. Let us stop dealing with something as a problem. Let us cherish the differences and go forward.

I agree with all of the recommendations but one that sticks out, besides the accommodation, is the one in relation to mainstreaming this in our education system. That could be easily done. To echo the words of my colleague, I wish we were here to celebrate the implementation of that declaration. I have exhausted the Ceann Comhairle's patience. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Ceann Comhairle.

I have limitless patience. It was good to hear the Deputy. We move to Deputy Joan Collins, who was also a member of the committee.

I welcome everybody in the Gallery. I welcome Senator Flynn and thank her for being here and for chairing the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community, which was established in September 2020 to complete the work initiated by the previous joint committee, in which Collete Kelleher played a major role. We looked at four areas: physical health, mental health and suicide rates, in respect of which there are 21 recommendations; school completion rates and educational attainment, particularly at second and third level, compared with the settled community, which includes 23 recommendations; labour market participation, having regard to the unemployment rate of 80% among Travellers, containing 22 recommendations; and access to housing and accommodation, including Traveller-specific accommodation, in the context of the significantly higher homelessness rate among Travellers compared with the settled population, which included 18 recommendations.

Over the years there have been numerous reports which sit on shelves gathering dust on various areas, particularly the Traveller community. We want to see this report implemented. That will be the test of this debate. Any public representative - including local councillors, to whom we should bring this - by agreeing to this is behoved to implement it in a positive way and to at all times support the Traveller community through the recommendations of the report. That would mean all of us playing a positive role around the Traveller community and not undermining said recommendations.

This is the first time we have seen Cant, the language of the Traveller community, used in a report. That is important, and a milestone from that point of view.

I mentioned that there were four areas. Some of these recommendations could have been implemented by now. I refer, for example, to the recommendations on health. Recommendation 6 states, "The National Traveller Health Action Plan should be published as a matter of urgency and an independent implementation body, with ring-fenced budgets to drive delivery and implementation, should be established". Has that been done? Is it in train? I ask the Minister of State to respond on this point.

Recommendation 22, on education, is a call to: "Restore the dedicated funding to Traveller Education cut in the 2011, 2012 period in full and ring fence it to provide supplementary educational support for members of the Traveller Community where they would benefit from same." Has that been done? It is very simple. This report was published five months ago. Has that measure been put in place or set in train? Perhaps the Minister of State could comment on this as well.

Recommendation 47 relates to employment and states:

There should be formal positive action measures for recruiting Travellers to the public sector. These programmes need to be led, and funded, from central government. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, DPER, should be the lead department as it fits within [its] remit.

Has that been done? It is something that is simple and straightforward and that we could implement quickly. Will the Minister of State also comment on this point?

Recommendation 74, on housing, states, "A National Traveller Accommodation Authority should be established to oversee the development and implementation of Traveller accommodation policy". Has that been done? Is it in train? Can a report be brought to us on this aspect? Equally, recommendation 81, also on housing, states: "Cena should be funded to advise social housing landlords on the design, location and management of Traveller-specific accommodation projects." Cena is a housing body that can play a leading role in respect of Traveller housing accommodation.

Those of us on the committee visited several sites in Dublin, Cork and Galway. When I visited the site at Spring Lane with my colleagues, it was appalling to see people having to live in the conditions they were in. On the other hand, when we walked into those people's homes, we were welcomed and the pride in and running of those homes was brilliant. That is not being patronising, recognising the conditions they were living in. It behoves this Government and this Dáil to ensure that the areas and the homes where members of the Traveller community are living are up to standard. I mention the National Traveller Women's Forum, which sent an email concerning this debate. I thank the organisation for doing that.

President Higgins was at National University of Ireland Galway to mark Traveller Ethnicity Day on Tuesday. A report on the occasion stated: "On a day when the long and sometimes difficult journey of travellers was being honoured, he said it was vital that society would never be slow to point to what has yet to be achieved." I will conclude on this point. I ask the Dáil to implement these recommendations. We should perhaps get a report on the progress of the implementation of all these recommendations. We could invite the relevant Ministers in, maybe every eight months, to update us on how they stand.

I thank Deputy Joan Collins for that sound advice. In the spirit of where we find ourselves, running ahead of time and with flexibility, Deputy McAuliffe is here and wishes to contribute. I think we should hear from him for a minute or two.

Perhaps I was too timid. I had four minutes at the end of Deputy Carroll MacNeill's contribution and I should have spoken up then. I promise that only two and half minutes were unused, so I do not think I will be wasting the House's time.

As a member of this committee, I welcome the publication of this report. I commend Senator Flynn on the work she has done. Her election as our Chair sent an important message. It was also an important decision for the committee because of the way that she chaired our meetings. I take this opportunity to thank her for that. I also acknowledge Deputy Ó Cuív, who is passionate about this issue, and I know other Members will agree with me on this point.

The findings in the report are stark. The lack of progress on the key issues affecting the Traveller community suggests there is merit in the idea that there should be a permanent Oireachtas committee on this matter that could oversee the Government's work more regularly. In the absence of such a committee, the responsibility falls on right across the board. It falls on the members of the Government, on the Ministers, on the Chairs of each of the committees, on each of us as Members of the Houses and on the chief executives and members of the local authorities. I refer in particular to the recommendation that Part 8 powers be removed from local authority members. There is a clear warning here. Members of local authorities moan about powers being removed from them. In that context, here is a warning to them to take brave decisions on Traveller accommodation in their communities and then powers will not be removed. It is important that we take action in this regard, such as examining the provision of Traveller accommodation. It is welcome that the allocation in this area was fully spent last year. That had to do with structural changes as well, which have enabled local authorities to access funding year-round. Small adjustments like that can deliver real change.

The mental health issue is probably the one that strikes me the most. Suicide rates among males in the Traveller community are six times higher than among their counterparts in the general population. This is not specifically referenced in material in front of me, but I refer to the level of addiction as a result of mental health issues, and we know that those issues are connected in many ways. I have spoken to the Minister of State with special responsibility in this area, Deputy Peter Burke, to tell him that it is important that we implement every one of the recommendations regarding mental health.

We talk about Ireland being a republic and about treating all the children of the nation equally, in the broadest sense of the word. There is no more blatant and brazen form of discrimination in this country than that to which the people in the Traveller community are subjected. It is discussed in open conversation, with no embarrassment. It is utterly unacceptable and, inevitably, it impacts every part of policy delivery.

I thank Deputy McAuliffe. Before I call Deputy Ó Cuív, and then the Minister of State to respond, I also want to make some remarks. I apologise to Senator Flynn for not being here when the debate started a little earlier than was scheduled. I also thank her, and former Senator Colette Kelleher before her, for the outstanding work they have done. The statistics published in this report cast a shadow of shame on our State and on our society. There is no escaping that reality.

I have had discussions on this with Senator Flynn, and we have agreed that we will have an implementation group established in Leinster House. The Clerk of the Dáil has already engaged with the Secretaries General of relevant Departments to ensure that we can have ongoing engagement to monitor the implementation of the 84 recommendations which have been brought before us. In addition, we have agreed, and I have given my personal undertaking, that we will re-establish and continue the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community on an ad hoc basis until the work of the special committees currently being established to examine surrogacy and autism have completed their work. After that, we will formally re-establish the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community as an ongoing standing committee of these Houses.

Having commenced this work in the Thirty-second Dáil and seen it reach this level of progress in the Thirty-third Dáil, I hope that the Thirty-fourth Dáil will continue to have such a committee so that we can move these recommendations forward and not have a report gathering dust on a shelf, but rather have regular assessments of its implementation. The idea proposed by Deputy Joan Collins, namely, that we should come in here regularly, perhaps twice a year, and debate the implementation of the recommendations of the report, is a very good one.

I am sorry. I have allowed myself that latitude. Having given Deputy Martin Browne latitude, I suppose I will give myself a little bit as well.

Can I have another small bit?

No, I am going to call Deputy Ó Cuív.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his interest in this matter. I am aware that only for his initiative, none of this would have ever happened.

I also thank Senator Eileen Flynn for the work she did as Chair. She brought invaluable knowledge to this subject with her contribution and expertise that many of us who have not lived that experience lack. It was a great privilege to be Vice Chair of this committee, which worked across parties in a very cohesive and agreed fashion.

I say to all my friends in the Traveller community that reports do not get things done and they are only the first steps in laying out what needs to be done. There is much that must be done. As part of the work of this committee, we visited Labre Park, St. Margaret's Park and four sites in Galway. I was familiar with the sites in Galway but I was not familiar with the other sites. I can speak to the public realm or exteriors of the properties and but I cannot talk about conditions inside those properties. On the exteriors, the nearest comparison I can make is to Soweto in South Africa, and we think we live in a First World country.

It is fair to say, as has been highlighted, that the traditional approach of a Government to this is that it is a problem to be solved. I have always seen Travellers as a community to be cherished and we must give real equality to that community. A comprehensive survey was done on attitudes on pluralism and diversity in Ireland. That professional work was published by Dr. Micheál Mac Gréil, a sociologist in Maynooth, in 2011 as part of a long series where he could tell us the attitude towards every group in Irish society. It is interesting that he dedicates the book as follows: "This book is dedicated to the emancipation of the Travelling people, Ireland's indigenous ethnic minority". One of the most striking statistics was as follows. With the Traveller people, the results are good and bad. On one hand, a considerable minority, 18.2%, would refuse citizenship to Travellers. On the other hand, tolerance towards Travellers is indicated by an increasing number of people who would welcome a Traveller into their family.

Let us consider the first figure, which at 18% means that nearly one in five people we meet in the street believes Travellers should not have citizenship. Half of those feel they should be deported. Those are scientific data and reading the totality of the book and our attitude towards various nationalities around the world, one sees that the group we respect least are an indigenous group.

The other point that is absolutely extraordinary concerns demographics. In the population as a whole, approximately 27% are in the group of people aged one to 19 but in Travellers that is 52%. How are there so many young people in the Traveller communities? It is because there are so few older people when compared with the rest of society. If we consider people aged between 60 and 79, the figure for society in general is 12.6% but in the Traveller community it is 3.7%. That is approximately a quarter of the percentage for society as a whole. If we consider people aged over 80, the figure for society in general is 2.7% but it is 0.3% for the Traveller community, or a tenth, give or take, of the percentage for society in general.

Do I believe those figures are true? Do I believe these attitudes are still valid in our society? Yes, I do. Some time ago a house was purchased by Galway City Council for Travellers who had been living in the county area for over 20 years. Mysteriously, in the middle of the night it was burned down. When the council went to rebuild the house, there were all sorts of objections lodged in the planning process. That tells us something about the prevailing attitudes.

There is much work to be done and we cannot afford to be sitting on it. As the Chairperson indicated in her foreword, over the years there have been numerous reports and studies produced that have highlighted the extreme difficulties and challenges faced by the Traveller community. Unfortunately, it is clear they have not succeeded in improving conditions in Traveller lives. When we wrote the report, it was not for debating but for action.

I commend the Ceann Comhairle on his comments and I look forward to having a standing committee. We must be on this every week because new matters will arise that we have not covered in this report. Otherwise we will not see change. I have been 30 years in politics and I have worked on this matter but do I see much change? Do I still see people in my constituency in totally unacceptable accommodation? The answer is "yes". Do I see people who cannot get replacement caravans because the city council has stated it can only afford its share of four of them, despite 20 or 25 of them in absolutely disgraceful conditions? As I have often asked, would you sleep in a freezing caravan that is damp every night of the week just because somebody in this very wealthy State has said the council can only afford four of them this year?

We have much work to do. The Oireachtas has work to do. It is time we did it and dealt with the way society has treated Travellers. From experience, I know it is time for us not only to have a lead Minister with clout with responsibility for Traveller matters but that Minister should have a dedicated fund, similar to what is being given to the islands, for example. If somebody in another Department is not doing the required job, that Minister should be able to step up with a fund, intervene and make it happen. The time for prevarication and delay is over. It is now a time for action. I hope this report will result not in more debate but in action to improve lives. That is the kind of action I have not yet seen in my time in politics.

As the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, is regrettably unable to attend this session, I am pleased to deliver the closing statement on his behalf.

I say to Senator Flynn that the usher who told her she deserves to be here is absolutely correct. Of course she deserves to be here and it is her voice that is effecting change as a Senator, a member of the Traveller community, as an advocate and the expert Chair of the special Oireachtas committee. I compliment the members of the committee here in the Dáil, as well as Deputy Ó Cuív as Vice Chairperson. I have no doubt Senator Flynn is inspiring other members of the Traveller community to become public representatives, and the more public representatives there are here in the Oireachtas speaking on behalf of the Traveller community, the better. That is how change will be effected in a real way.

I welcome the comments of the Ceann Comhairle about welcoming more of the Traveller community to the Oireachtas here in employment. I note he said he would take that up. To the families of Ms Ronnie Fay and Mr. Michael McDonagh, I send condolences. I note the work done by them. I welcome our visitors to the Gallery and acknowledge their professional advocacy. I hope they will take some comfort from all the words said here today. As Senator Flynn has said, those words must be matched with actions and there must be implementation of the recommendations. As Senator Flynn has also said, we must move forward together in order to achieve this.

There is no doubt we are all in agreement that Travellers and Roma continue to suffer from negative stereotypes and discrimination. It is clear from the report that although there has been some improvement, much more needs to be done to ensure full equality of opportunity for Travellers and Roma and remove barriers to their full and equal participation in Irish life.

The Department of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has an important funding role and it provides funding to support a range of activities linked to the national Traveller, Roma and inclusion strategy, and to provide core funding to a number of Traveller and Roma organisations. Under that strategy his Department has secured a budget of €5.659 million for 2022 and an additional €880,000 in dormant account funding has also been secured.

I also note the importance placed on education, the impact it has on a person's life to achieve their potential and on their ability to secure employment. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to develop a Traveller education strategy. This will include early years, primary, secondary and third level education. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will engage with the Ministers, Deputies Foley and Harris, in progressing this commitment.

I believe as well that the issue of cultural identity is extremely important. There is a need for broader cultural awareness of Traveller identity and increased visibility of Traveller culture and heritage. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has worked to advance projects that increase the visibility of Traveller culture and heritage. A project is also being progressed with the National Museum of Ireland to develop an online portal to the Traveller culture collections. I am aware that work is under way by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment arising from an audit of the curriculum in respect of Traveller culture and history with a view to developing opportunities for teaching about that history and culture and developing resources for use in schools.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, I thank the committee for its report and reiterate the Government's commitment to continuing its work on ensuring full equality of opportunity for Travellers and Roma and removing the barriers to their full and equal participation in Irish life. For any individual questions that came up today, I will pass them on to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman.

I thank the Minister of State and Deputy Ó Cuív for that summation. Let us hope that today will be remembered as an historic day in the life of the Traveller community in Ireland. It is also an historic day in the life of this Chamber because it is the first time in my recollection that a Member of the Upper House came all the way down to this Chamber to present a report to us. Senator Flynn is making history in more than one way. It behoves us all also to thank Leo Bollins, the clerk to the committee, for the sterling work he did on its behalf.

That concludes our statements on the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community. We will fix a date for a further such debate in the not-too-distant future.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 4.33 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 4.36 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 4.33 p.m. and resumed at 4.36 p.m.
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