Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their very persuasive and powerful presentations. I welcome the other Travellers in the gallery.

I favour the recognition of Travellers as an ethnic group for all the reasons the witnesses have identified, particularly the strength of the argument that there are international objective criteria which should be used to acknowledge ethnicity as well as the principle of the right to self-identity. What do the witnesses believe are the reasons for the State's resistance to this? Is there a paper or body of evidence that the State has produced to argue against the recognition of ethnicity? Does it have anything to do with some of the policy or, perhaps, service implications of Travellers being recognised as having a distinct ethnic identity?