Mr. Oein de Bhaird?in:

I thank the Cathaoirleach. Mo geels, mo tribli, mo chairde, my friends, I am absolutely honoured to be here and to be able to accept the invitation to speak in this very real historic space in support of our health and access to justice. The focus of health is on the health of culture and heritage, however, and access to justice is on our ability to partake in our cultural lives, the impact it has on our communities and the consequences of it to our families, especially the young.

I consider this a very much-needed and essential conversation for a community that is disconnected from its historic expressions and belongings and that can exist in a state of trauma and great injury. It has wide-reaching implications and consequences on belonging from mental health to self esteem, inter-community dialogue, self-identity and on and on.

When I hear the term "culture and heritage", I feel that pull to the elder world that existed before I even did. However, I also feel that beating heart of where we are now among the contemporary people, living current and ongoing lives that host our identities and honour the echoes of our pasts and hold up the choruses of our futures.

In the personal lives of Travellers, we understand that a connection to the past is essential as it aids the grounding and contextual personal and collective communication of who we are to who we can, should and will be. I, of course, also acknowledge the difficulties in identifying and sharing our cultural belongings. When so much of the community is in a state of ongoing and inter-generational trauma, investing in the protection, preservation and promotion of culture can be seen and interpreted almost as a surplus; a point of luxury or an additional later consideration to a people who are being overtly repressed and oppressed by the State as well as being subtly and openly undermined historically by the institutional structures. It is like when the songs of our foremothers cannot be heard when the children are without home, shelter, care and gruber and the noise of emergency need blunts out the voice that carries us forward. This can lead to an external interpretation that the honouring of culture and heritage is an option rather than a core being of who we are and why we survive.

I am also drawn to mention the many committees and reports, such as Joint Committee Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community report and the Seanad Public Consultation Committee report,Travellers Towards a More Equitable Ireland Post-Recognition, which were not lacking in recommendations and needs that, if invested in and honoured, would be so very transformative. At the same time, however, I would draw light to how and when these would be delivered and the many poignant recommendations in the unity of the community and what we need to be delivered.

In terms of our language, Gammon-Cant, the UNESCO protection and election to the assembly and its placement on the Irish national inventory of intangible cultural heritage is very much welcomed, but there could be a far more connected engagement for an island-wide review, reflection, collection and support of this. Our language is an Irish language and is part of the speech, native tongue and spirit of it.

In terms of our traditional healing covering customs, cure and curative herbal action, I hope this will receive more investment and exploration. Otherwise, we rely on students like Mr. Ian McDonagh, who was here today. He was previously the BT young scientist science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, awardee, and forwards more much-needed understanding. He works in identifying some costs around our practices and has even saved funding and resources for the HSE.

With regard to traditional skill sets, be they among the many such as tinkering, woodwork, masonry and field-footing, I remain solidly convinced that we would welcome a shift in our various apprenticeships and the need for them. The extension, preservation and protection of traditional skills is not only a vital act but one that I understand is receiving absolutely no opposition; it just needs appropriate resourcing.

Our music, songs, musicians, and storytellers are tellers of otherwise long lost or endangered tales. Our tinsmiths and crafters, weavers and beady-makers, dreamers and writers, poets and creators are among the custodians of our culture, but also the wider culture of the island and that needs to be protected, ensured, ring-fenced, promoted and given extension.

I welcome, especially in recent years, the increased opportunities and pathways for Travellers to engage in the arts, but this is all among the decision-makers of the process. We are really among them and are yet seen to be authentic stakeholders. Extending the employment avenues for people to work in the State as strategic providers of heritage and culture is essential. Otherwise, we run the risk of relying on only a handful of resourced people to support the custodianship of more than 50,000 people's diverse and mutlifold belonging and heritage, which provides an ongoing risk to the self-identity, belonging, education and core health our being with one another.

Trauma-informed undertakings would not only be very much welcomed by the community, but I feel it is essential to be a part of it if we are to deliver what needs to be delivered. The creation of resources, such as the Pavee Pathways, Mincéirí archives, piseoga and Cork Traveller photo archives, are what I believe are part of giving voices to our elders, our young and our community. They are among the needed resources and tool kits that promote the health of our culture connection, but they are also much-needed educational resources and information that undermine discriminatory mind sets and practices of our people who are at a distance from us. Without such tools, we give additional passage to those structures and those within them do us active harm.

Events such as Misleór, the national festival of nomads that draws together nomadic people across the globe, to a yearly event in Galway, should be far more than just annual events. Honouring the paths we are from and how we travel can be reduced to tokenism if we do not continue to expand them. We are Travellers every day, not just on days like Traveller Pride Week when we get to showcase our strengths and vibrancy, but every day. I feel that in order to tip the scales towards a healthier community, we need to ensure that the honouring and celebration of connective aspects of our beautiful culture and heritage need to continue to be underpinned in the work of the State, its agencies, structures and curriculums, not as potential add-ons, but as a core aspect of the essential work.

Ensuring Traveller-specific positions, permanent roles within the creative, cultural and heritage sector will aid the journey towards a better understanding of our cultural inheritance but also ensure that the places, spaces and communities can be seen as active and authentic agents of change and belonging. An elevation of our contribution to the fabric of the arts and heritage of this island within the structural mindset and strategic deliveries would do much for our mental health sensitivities, bring opportunities for increase employment, increase personal and family resources, and be an additional means of nurturing positive outcomes, educational resources and honouring our ancestors.

The State I hope will continue to expand the safeguarding of our heritage and create additional security for our health and our access to justice and education. An increased State investment would do much more for all of us because not only would we survive but we could prosper.

I genuinely believe in the work of this committee and I hope that not only are we listened to but we are actually heard. I thank the Cathaoirleach.