Ms Ronnie Fay:

Pavee Point is delighted to have the opportunity to make this presentation on issues with regard to social protection for the Roma community living in Ireland. We have a long track record of working on Traveller and Roma issues both in Ireland and at a European level since our foundation in 1985. We have had a dedicated Roma project since 2000. Today we will focus on the impact of the habitual residence condition on the Roma community in Ireland, and my colleague Ms Siobhan Curran will outline the actions we would like to see happen to address the concerns we will outline. Ms Gabi Muntean will outline her personal experience and the consequences for Roma community members who cannot access social protection in the State.

Pavee Point is not naive and does not suggest that Ireland should be responsible for resolving the problems of all the Roma living in the European Union. We propose that the Government take both a humanitarian and a pragmatic approach in addressing the concerns of the Roma living in Ireland that we will highlight. We believe there is a need for an European-wide co-ordinated approach in addressing Roma issues and we welcome the European framework for national Roma integration strategies. However, it is most unfortunate that the Irish Government has totally ignored the existence of the Roma community living in Ireland and Roma are invisible in the Irish strategy. The mindset of the State appears to be one of ignoring the Roma community and hoping its members will go away. The reality is that Roma are a part of Ireland now and have been since the mid-1990s, and Pavee Point believes that we need to proactively address their needs.

There are an estimated 12 million to 15 million Roma living in the European Union. Official policies against the Roma during the past 70 years have included containment and forced assimilation, while in the worst period during the Second World War, between a quarter and half a million Roma were exterminated by the Nazi regime. After the Second World War the predominant policy in many states was forced assimilation of Roma. Since the fall of the Communist regimes in eastern Europe in 1989, the situation of Roma has for the most part worsened. With the transition to a market economy, Roma have become increasingly marginalised. Openly anti-Roma attitudes suppressed under Communist systems have re-emerged in more virulent and sometimes violent form. In the first half of 2012 alone, the European Roma Rights Centre highlighted media reports of at least 20 attacks across four countries, including ten deaths of Romani people. The response of authorities to such abuses has often been characterised by a failure to investigate racist crimes, in some cases even blaming the victims, while in others the authorities are the perpetrators. Because many central and eastern European countries continue to fail to address anti-Roma discrimination or provide protection against violent attacks, some Roma seek a better life in western European states, including in Ireland. There are no accurate data on the Roma population in Ireland, as we do not disaggregate data on ethnicity. However, we estimate there are about 5,000 Roma living here.

We want a humanitarian, pragmatic and common-sense approach to the needs of Roma living in Ireland. Otherwise, the alternative will be the creation of a permanent underclass of Roma where poverty, exclusion and racism are the norm. Resources are being used for negative measures such as policing, criminalisation and hospitalisation rather than positively for Roma development and inclusion. The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, in a report concerning Roma and social security which was published last year, said that Roma are being denied access to services or given reduced assistance, that there is discriminatory application of social assistance programmes and that the use of certain regulations and policies have the effect of rendering Roma ineligible for regular social services.

We argue that the application of the habitual residence condition, HRC, within Ireland is an example of that kind of discrimination.

Pavee Point is also mindful of Ireland's history of emigration and the hostile treatment afforded to the Irish community in both 19th century America and 20th century Britain, when many Irish were forced abroad to seek a better life for themselves and their families. We ask this committee and others in positions of power in Ireland to draw parallels with the way Roma are being treated here.

We will highlight three key actions which we ask the committee to address. We call on the Department of Social Protection to provide a humanitarian response and to ensure that Roma are not living in extreme poverty without the basics of food and shelter. We call for the provision of targeted training programmes that can be accessed by Roma in Ireland in order to support them in finding employment. We ask for an impact assessment of the habitual residence condition, HRC. Ms Siobhan Curran will describe in more detail some of those actions.