Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ronnie, Gabi and Siobhan for their presentation. It is harrowing to hear Gabi's description of how vulnerable people in our society are affected by decisions. The habitual residence condition is a regulation which details the reasons for excluding people from receiving social welfare payments.

However, as a society we should also be mindful that there will always be people who fall through the cracks and as a result live in poverty. There are others, not just the Roma community, who fall foul of the habitual residency condition and remain here to survive by whatever means. Those are not just Roma. Many Irish citizens also fall foul of the residency condition. That is one of the reasons this committee is examining how that be changed to ensure it does not prevent people getting some type of safety net payment to help them survive. It is a disgrace if children living in this country cannot at least get child benefit payments.

On the number of members of the Roma community living here, the census does not cover that adequately. How does Pavee Point believe we could address that issue? If the numbers were captured properly in the census it would help determine the number of the Roma community that are employed, their ages and so on. That would give it the figures that determine the way Ireland, but also the European Union as a whole, deals with a population which has been discriminated against for years.

Ms Curran also said Pavee Point has a dedicated Roma programme. How many people go through that programme? What are the plans to increase the number participating? I am aware there was a more vibrant one in the past before some of the changes and cuts were effected but now that there are additional community employment, CE, places available do the witnesses intend to make another submissions to try to build a CE programme specifically on the Roma community and perhaps use that to liaise with the various members of the Roma community? I am aware that in the main they are often concentrated in groups or in families in and around cities. That is as much as I know other than one or two Roma people who have come to my clinic in dire straits where schools have identified the crisis in which their families are living. They have ensured the children can attend school but they are going to school hungry and without adequate clothing and school books. A school I was dealing with, and the parents, managed to intervene and help for a number of months but the community welfare officer was not for turning in one case in particular.

This is a Europe-wide issue. What specific change do the witnesses believe can be brought about at European level that would help the Roma community access social welfare in the European Union? I do not want to get into the range of human rights issues and so on because we deal with the social welfare issues in this committee.