John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to repeat the comments of others. I have often heard Mr. Collins speak. He is a powerful advocate. However, I have never heard Ms Quilligan speak. She should do so more often. I was surprised by her contribution. Coming from Kilkenny and having been a member of the local authority which was involved with the Traveller community, I want to focus on a specific comment made by Ms Quilligan on a matter of which I was not aware, namely, the suicide rate among the Traveller community.

In the context of our discussion on ethnicity, is there practical discrimination? I agree that there is casual discrimination, even among people who regard themselves as educated and politically correct and who throw around phrases not heard in the past. I often speak with my mother. She is elderly, but she refers to the symbiotic relationship between small rural farmers and the Travellers who visited areas during the summer while she was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s. As Ms Fay mentioned, that relationship changed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Is there a denial of access to services? While the settled community has always regarded mental health issues as a taboo subject, are they even more so in the Traveller community? It is probably too much to expect a brief explanation, but why is there such a significant disparity in the rate of suicide between the Traveller community and the settled community?

Mr. Collins is right about newspaper headlines. A member of the Traveller community who does something is identified as being a Traveller. If a politician does something, he or she is identified as being a politician. We have empathy in that regard.