Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Two minutes is not enough time to do justice to this subject. The utterly unspeakable tragedy that occurred in Carrickmines must be the catalyst, if all of the tears are not to be crocodile tears, for radical, urgent and immediate change in how we treat Travellers.

In considering my contribution to this debate and in putting forward amendments, I thought that the first people I should consult should be the Travellers themselves. Incidentally, that should be the guide to our policy, our response to this tragedy and to what is needed. My amendments simply convey to the Minister what representatives of the Travellers said is required. They said, first, that we must establish a public inquiry into what happened in Carrickmines. It is worth mentioning that the Romanian Prime Minister has just resigned amid mass protests in Romania following the death of dozens of Romanians in a fire in a nightclub in the last few days. That should give us pause for thought about our response and our responsibility for what happened in Carrickmines.

They have asked also for the immediate reversal of the 87% cuts that have been imposed on the Traveller accommodation programme, which has led to the appalling situation with Traveller accommodation throughout the country. Those cuts must be reversed. They ask that we enact a series of measures to address State racism affecting Travellers, including the immediate recognition - no messing around, no reviews and no talks - of Traveller ethnicity and a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to politicians or public officials who play around with anti-Traveller racism, which they do all of the time.

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