Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 January 2013
519. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to recognise travellers as an ethnic group; the way he will deal with the issue of traveller ethnicity; if he has a timeframe for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3002/13]
View answerThere are no immediate plans to introduce the legislation necessary for such recognition although as indicated in the past, serious consideration is being given to the issue. There is a long standing wish of many Travellers that they be granted recognition as an ethnic group but also there are some divergent views within the Traveller community.
The previous Government was of the view that Travellers are not an ethnic minority. Dialogue between staff of the Department of Justice and Equality and representatives of Traveller organisations has taken place in the past on the issue, for example, during the course of a seminar on the third State report under the Council of Europe Convention on National Minorities. In addition, the National Traveller Monitoring and Advisory Committee, on which sit representatives of all the national Traveller organisations as well as officials of the Department of Justice and Equality, earlier last year established a sub-group specifically to consider the issue of Traveller ethnicity. Arising from the work of this group, among other things, a conference was held in Dublin Castle, supported by the Department of Justice and Equality. At this conference various aspects of the ethnicity subject were considered from a wide spectrum of opinion.
I would like to remind the Deputy that Travellers in Ireland have the same civil and political rights as other citizens under the Constitution. The key anti-discrimination measures, the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977, the Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts specifically identify Travellers by name as a group protected. The Equality Act 2004, which transposed the EU Racial Equality Directive, applied all the protections of that Directive across all of the nine grounds contained in the legislation, including the Traveller community ground. All the protections afforded to ethnic minorities in EU directives and international conventions apply to Travellers because the Irish legislation giving effect to those international instruments explicitly protects Travellers.
Consideration of this issue remains ongoing with a view to ensuring that full analysis of all aspects of the granting of ethnic status to Travellers is available to Government when coming to a decision on the matter.
