May I thank the Cathaoirleach, through you, for allowing me to raise this matter. The matter that I wish to raise is the apparent widespread practice of requiring that all members of the travelling community are required to sign on at labour exchanges at the same time throughout the country.
I would like to put on the record of the House that less than a year ago we discussed the charter of travellers' rights produced by the national council for travelling people. We had a very positive discussion on that matter. There were disagreements about issues but, by and large, it was a very positive discussion and the Minister of State with responsibility for these matters at the time was very positive and did indicate that the Government accepted the principles contained in the charter of travellers' rights. This House passed a motion recognising that charter and asking the Government to take the necessary legal and administrative steps to implement that charter. Article 12 of that charter reads as follows:
1. Travellers are entitled to the full exercise of their rights and should not suffer any distinction, exclusion or restriction based on the fact that they are travellers which would have the effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on the equal footing of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
2. The State shall amend, rescind or nullify any law which has the effect of creating or perpetuating discrimination against travellers. The State shall prohibit and bring to an end by all appropriate means, including legislation as required by circumstances, discrimination against travellers by any person, group or organisation.
3. Travellers' right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport, hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, shops, theatres and parks shall be granted.
That is a fine and noble principle and one I must re-emphasise endorsed by this House and accepted on behalf of the Government by the Minister of State at the time, Deputy Donnellan. I am, therefore, extremely distressed in the course of meeting people who work with travellers to have it drawn to my attention that there are practices at work which, on a very fundamental level, run counter to both the spirit and the letter of that charter and contrary to principles of equality enunciated by our Constitution.
These practices have been reported to me as follows: I would like to quote from them because they are direct experiences of people working with travellers and whose good faith on this issue cannot be doubted.
I have been informed that the following situation persists—the information coming from the Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group:
I wish to draw your attention to the fact that it seems to be the accepted practice that all Travellers on social welfare through the Republic must sign on at labour exchanges at the same time i.e. 11.30 a.m. on Thursdays. From our work with Travellers from all over the Dublin area this situation whereby Travellers are singled out in this regard is a well-known fact. Members of our group also have experience of this practice in other parts of the country eg. Navan, Cork, Mayo, Mullingar, Maynooth, Trim, Limerick and Galway which leads us to believe that it is an established national policy.
We object to this practice because there is an inherent assumption that people on the dole, and Travellers in particular, are scroungers and dishonest and in need of special monitoring. Travellers, themselves find it very objectionable and have frequently complained about it on radio and television. They dislike being segretated from the rest of social welfare dependants in this way and see it as a manifestation of the prevailing discrimination which exists.
They feel that the presence of a large group of Travellers on the streets outside labour exchanges all at the same time (because they are not allowed into the building until 11.30 a.m.) reinforces the existing negative sterotypes and prejudices which the settled people have towards Travellers.
As you are aware there is a strong clan system within the Travelling community and when disputes occur they can erupt again when the opposing groups are forced together in the dole queues. Some travellers are intimidated by this system which leaves no opportunity for their avoiding such occasions. Other State departments take advantage of this system (e.g.) the policy when serving summonses) which makes Travellers more vulnerable than their counterparts in the settled community.
The following information has also been supplied to me by a responsible person from the West of Ireland:
the practice is widespread in many parts of the country whereby travellers are required to sign on at Labour Exchanges at specific times, quite often at 11.30 a.m. with the requirement being once, twice, or daily each week. Apart from the practice of confining travellers to a specific time for signing on there are other practices which are even more reprehensible. In some labour exchanges travellers must step back to allow a newly arrived settled person to sign on even though they may have been already queueing for some time.
That is the conviction I have that there is a deliberate, calculated practice of racist discrimination—and that is the only way to describe it—because they identify themselves as a separate community with a separate ethnic origin and a separate culture within the community which calls itself the Irish people. To identify a group and stereotype them in that manner is not a matter of administrative practice; it is a matter of fundamental cultural and racist discrimination.
I hope that when the Minister replies he will not produce one or two examples to disprove my contention. The issue is that there is a clear element of an overwhelming uniformity of practice on this issue. I know the matter has not been remedied generally because I have been reliably informed from Carrick-on-Shannon that a well-organised campaign by members of the travelling community prevented this practice from being continued.
It is very clear to me that the members of the travelling community have been singled out in a most offensive way because of allegations apparently made about their abuse of the dole. I want to say that even if every allegation about dole abuse by members of the travelling community was true, it would still be unacceptable to deal with the problem in this way. It is wrong to identify a group, to stereotype a group; it is particularly wrong to identify, stigmatise and stereotype a group who have already suffered far too much at the hands of stigmatisers and the sort of glib political opportunist who uses prejudice for his own benefit at the expense of the travelling community. Even if every allegation of abuse were true, the practice and procedure to be used to deal with abuse cannot be a form of cultural or racial discrimination which reinforces stereotyping.
If they had been members of the Jewish community in this country or members of the minority religion who had been identified in this way, the outcry that would have been heard at the suggestion that they were all going to be told to line up at a particular time at labour exchanges in the city and all around the country would have been overpowering. It is extraordinary that a Government who fight bravely—in my view, fought a recent referendum on the question of minority rights—can now fight shy over the minority rights of the most vulnerable minority in this country. I appeal to the Minister not to give me a glib rationalisation, not to dismiss it because perhaps a detail here or there of the evidence is incorrect—because it is impossible obviously to check every labour exchange —but to accept that the practice is wide-scale, to accept that the practice is wrong, to accept that the practice humaliates people who are trying to make a decent life for themselves and that the only honest, fair and honourable way to deal with it is to eliminate the practice.
The Minister may devise his own method for dealing with allegations of abuse. It seems that if you have evidence of abuse you must have a method of dealing with it. To use a stignatising practice of discrímination against an entire community is wrong and it is unworthy of this Government and of this Minister to perpetuate it. I appeal to the Minister to end what is a wrong practice and to allow travelling people, who have so little dignity in our community, at least the dignity of being treated like everybody else at a labour exchange.
