Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, to the Chamber. I join my colleagues in wishing him well and the very best of luck in his new role. Education and skills in an enormously important brief and has a significant impact on the shape of our society and the values we hold.

I see the Bill as a clear recognition of that fact. I assure the Acting Chairman that as we are on Committee Stage, I will speak only on the amendment which I see as very important. When the Bill was first debated in the Chamber on 11 July, I was also introducing a Bill and was not able to speak at that point. I warmly welcome the Bill and commend Senator Kelleher, fellow Senators and the team who have been involved, the individuals and civil society groups who worked so hard on it. I am so proud to support them.

I will now address amendment No. 1. As a member of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality, I will never forget the meetings we held in 2016 where the witnesses who made presentations to the committee were people who work with and are members of the Traveller community. Those presentations were so powerful and one could hear the passion from people as to why recognition of Traveller ethnicity was so important symbolically and as a concrete step towards real equality and inclusion. I was delighted to support the call for recognition at the time and was proud to be there in March 2017 when the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, took the historic step of formally recognising Travellers as a distinct ethnic group in the Irish nation.

This amendment to the Bill is an extension of that spirit. It is not just about capitalising a letter "T" for drafting sake, it is about making sure that recognition is explicit in everything we do. We are stating very clearly that the Traveller community is a valued and cherished part of Irish identity. We are making the point that if we talk about Irish history and culture, then Traveller history and culture is central to it.It has been pushed to the margins and stigmatised but, through a meaningful and inclusive education system, we can change that. We can begin to transform attitudes throughout society and tackle the discrimination and racism that sadly still exist, as we have seen today. My colleague, Senator Ruane, spoke very clearly about that.

I think most about the impact this measure can have on schools and on how they welcome young members of the Traveller community. Speaking at a briefing this week, Dr. Karl Kitching from University College Cork stated Traveller young people rarely see themselves represented in the media in a positive way and, indeed, children across the country are not given the opportunity to connect with realistic and positive narratives of Travellers' lives. This is what we are trying to change. Can one imagine the difference it would make for young Travellers and their classmates if we could begin to dismantle the us-and-them mentality that has been present in our society for too long? In a real republic, the classroom should be an inclusive and a welcoming place. This is a really important step towards that. Dr. Kitching went on to refer to research from Stanford University on the knock-on effects of such a change and how it could help to tackle dropout rates and increase academic progression. As he noted, it is difficult to progress academically in a certain environment when one does not feel one belongs.

I am working with the Traveller community at present as part of a RISE Foundation programme we run every Friday. My experience of this community is mind-blowing. The women working in the group are almost warrior women. Their power and passion for their families, children and grandchildren are just unbelievable. I will never forget the excitement among them two weeks ago when there was talk of this legislation being introduced. They were coming in asking, "Oh my God, did you hear the news, did you hear the news?" The rumour that people would be talking about and teaching their culture in schools generated such excitement among them because they believed and hoped that, at last, their culture would be respected. Their culture is so important to them. It is part of their identity. We can learn from the Traveller community. We can learn so much about how powerful they are and what they have to go through living in an environment where they are subjected to what is almost racism. That is really what it is. That is why they are so strong and empowered. They really do stick together.

This legislation is a matter of tackling stigma, marginalisation and discrimination. I commend the Bill to the House. I am proud to support it and the amendments proposed by my colleague, Senator Kelleher. I really hope the Minister will support us today. I really hope, for sake of the Traveller community, that what has been outlined becomes a realistic theme for it because it would be absolutely fantastic.