I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important matter on the Adjournment and the Minister of State for coming into the House to reply.
The recent outbreak of serious crime in rural areas is totally reprehensible and all right thinking people condemn it out of hand, whatever its source. Michael McDonagh, a traveller, speaking on behalf of the Irish Travellers Movement said: "The crimes are horrific and those responsible have to be dealt with severely, whoever they are". Gearóid Ó Riain of Pavee Point Travellers Centre also spoke out very strongly against the crimes and those who committed them.
A great deal of media attention has been devoted to the problem of serious crime following the tragic murders of three elderly people in rural areas and two women in Kildare and Dublin. What saddens me is that the travelling community is the only social group to be named in connection with the recent upsurge in horrific crimes. This is totally unjust and creates a perception among the public that all travellers are potential wrongdoers.
I was appalled by the article in the Sunday Independent on 28 January last. One knew instinctively from its title “Time to get tough on tinker terror ‘culture’” that the travelling community were not going to get any sympathy, only less understanding, from the writer. In referring to a “tinker camp” the writer of the article said:
Look at what it is, and what the intellectuals and the politicians say one should honour. It is a life of appetite ungoverned by intellect. It is a life which marauds over private property and disregards public laws. It is a life of money without production, land without cost, damage without compensation, assault without arrest, theft without prosecution and murder without remorse. It is a life worse than the life of beasts, for beasts at least are guided by wholesome instinct. Traveller life is without the ennobling intellect of man or the steadying instinct of animals.
This tinker "culture" is without achievement, discipline, reason or intellectual ambition. It is a morass. And one of the surprising things about it is that not every individual bred in this swamp turns out bad. Some individuals among the tinkers find the will not to become evil.
This disgusting statement is wholly inaccurate. Even the language of the writer confirms that she has no knowledge of travellers, their way of life, history and culture. Writing such as this tends to justify the actions of those in our community who take the law into their own hands by driving travellers from one area to another. Speculation like this completely undermines the ongoing work of traveller organisations in building links between traveller and settled communities. Journalists and newspaper editors have a responsibility to ensure that reports of violent crime are balanced and fair and do not fuel prejudice and intolerance towards the travelling community. I urge the media to exercise caution and to remember that many innocent travellers are endangered by irresponsible journalism.
When speaking recently of the fear of retribution in which many travellers now live, Nancy Collins, a traveller, said:
Our children are afraid in school. Adult travellers are being targeted for abuse on the street and in work. Painting us all as guilty leaves us all open to attack.
The Minister for Equality and Law Reform should examine that newspaper article in detail with a view to initiating action within his Department under section 2 (1) of the Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989. He must also ensure that the recommendations in the report of the Task Force on Travellers published in July 1995 are implemented as quickly as possible. We must make much greater progress on the provision of accommodation to suit the needs of travellers, bearing in mind that an additional 3,100 units of accommodation will be required by the year 2000. We should take note during these difficult times for travellers that 1,100 travelling families live on the side of the road with nowhere to go while another 257 families live in temporary sites. I hope the Minister of State will convey to her colleague the need to look at this newspaper article and initiate the appropriate legal action within his Department.