The Government published the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) 2017 – 2021 in June 2017. The Strategy represents a whole of Government approach to bring about meaningful change and progress for the Traveller and Roma community in Ireland. It brings Government Departments and Agencies together along with representatives of both Traveller and Roma communities to bring a focus to the issues which affect them most in a structured way.
The NTRIS contains 149 actions, grouped under ten themes including Cultural Identity; Education; Employment; Health and Accommodation and aim to improve the lives of the Traveller and Roma Communities. Progress on these actions is monitored by a Steering Committee which includes both Traveller and Roma representatives and Civil Society organisations.
The
Deputy will appreciate that while my Department has responsibility for coordinating the monitoring of the Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, each relevant Department has its own budget and is responsible for the implementation of its own commitments including cultural issues.
In 2021, my Department is providing €4.925 million in funding to support Traveller and Roma inclusion. This funding is being used to continue existing supports and to support new activities designed to counteract the impact of COVID-19 on the Traveller and Roma communities. In relation to DCEDIY cultural actions the position is as follows:
Review of Traveller Pride (TPW)
A Review of Traveller Pride Week and Traveller Pride Awards was completed in May of this year. As a follow on from that review and stemming from recommendations therein, my Department agreed to provide further resources for this year’s Traveller Pride events. This is also in line with the commitment under Action 1 of NTRIS to expand Traveller Pride Week. With that in mind, my Department provided a €100,000 to support these national and local events.
Traveller Pride Week national events began on 20 September and local events took place in the week commencing 27 September, 2021. These events provides the Traveller and Roma Communities with an opportunity to promote Traveller and Roma culture, achievements and talents at both local and national level and celebrate that culture with the whole of Irish society as one community. The theme of this year’s pride week was ‘Stronger Together’. In light of COVID-19 restrictions, a number of live events and celebrations went ahead online, including panel discussions, a video series which showcased 3 past Traveller Pride Award recipients, music and traditional storytelling.
Additional funding for cultural initiatives
I was delighted to be able to support the production of an audio book, Dr Rosaleen McDonagh's collection of essays "Unsettled" which was funded to the amount of €7,400.
Funds to the amount of €30,563 is being provided to run a workshop with Traveller writers and to put in place fully paid fellowships for two Traveller writers on the “Play It Forward Fellowship Programme”. This fellowship offers the emerging writers 18-month of support to develop, showcase and publish their work. The Fellows would receive structured support, including mentoring, editorial feedback, career consulting, participation in workshops, training, festivals and literary events, as well as opportunities to meet and build relationships with editors, agents, publishers and writers in order to significantly progress their writing practice.
Dormant account funding to the amount of €150,000 is being provided for the Development of an online portal to Traveller Culture collections. This programme will see the creation of an online portal of objects, archives, photographic, recordings and other collections held in the National Cultural Institutions and National Folklore Archive illustrative of or, pertaining to Traveller culture and history. The process of its creation will, in its first phase, see cooperation between the curators of national cultural heritage, Gaois Research Group/Fiontair, Dublin City University, and Government Departments (DCEDIY), Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Department of Education and Skills). A second phase could see the inclusion of material held in other public repositories such as the Local Authority Museum network.
DCEDIY provides funding to the amount of €5,000 to celebrate Roma Day which takes place 8th April.
It is also worth noting that funding is provided to the Traveller Mediation Service (TMS) to the amount of €241,260 and the Traveller Counselling Service (TCS) to the amount of €189,200 which delivers culturally appropriate services to the Traveller Community. One of TMS and TCS unique attributes is employing Travellers as mediators and counsellors which supports the increasing numbers of self-referrals coming from Travellers as Travellers feel those mediators and counsellors have a better understanding of the history or the underlying problems that non-Travellers might not consider relevant. This is especially relevant in the case of trained female Traveller mediators helping female Travellers in the community as they have a unique connection.
International Roma Day falls on 8 April each year marking the day of the first World Roma Congress in 1971. Given COVID-19 restrictions, 2020 celebrations were postponed in accordance with CMO advice. 2021 celebrations were also be postponed given the current COVID climate and restrictions. However, D/CEDIY remains committed to supporting International Roma Day by providing funding to groups in support of celebratory events when safe to do so.
DCEDIY has committed €7,400 for the production of the audio book, Dr Rosaleen McDonagh's collection of essays "Unsettled".
Dormant account funding (€150,000 committed) is being provided for the Development of an online portal to Traveller Culture collections. This programme will see the creation of an online portal of objects, archives, photographic, recordings and other collections held in the National Cultural Institutions and National Folklore Archive illustrative of or, pertaining to Traveller culture and history. The process of its creation will, in its first phase, see cooperation between the curators of national cultural heritage, Gaois Research Group/ Fiontair, Dublin City University, and Government Departments (DCEDIY), Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, Department of Education and Skills). A second phase could see the inclusion of material held in other public repositories such as the Local Authority Museum network.
Funding to the amount of €61,164 is being provided in 2021 to Musicantia, a Roma Community led group of volunteer musicians and accredited music teachers who work in partnership with indigenous Irish and other migrant community development workers.
All of these initiatives are in line with my Department’s Cultural Actions under NTRIS.
Review of NTRIS
The Programme for Government commits to a review of the NTRIS. An RFT is currently being finalised to evaluate the effectiveness of its implementation. I am committed to working with stakeholders to examine what has been achieved and develop new approaches to ensure better, more focused and measurable outcomes. Actions in respect of cultural issues will of course be agreed with the Traveller and Roma Representative groups at the consultation stage in the development of the new Strategy.
