David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank members for their questions and co-operation. The presentations were very powerful and I am sure all would agree it has been a good initial interaction. The consensus is that we will have further interaction later in the year, if possible, to tease out some of the issues raised. It seems one issue is the understanding of ethnicity which has been well explained and my understanding has improved as a result. It is not about race or culture; there is also a sociological aspect which we must tease out. One speaker referred to a lack of understanding and knowledge. If we can add to this, we will do something good. We have made a start today and will take it from there.

I was also struck by the richness of tradition outlined and would like to learn more about it. I sense that there is a very rich tradition, but not many people know about it. I do not know enough about it and would like to learn more. It would also be interesting to know about the history of Travellers.

The delegates might not wish to comment further as time is getting tight, but my sense is that, in addition to Travellers, there are traders who are sometimes confused about the Traveller community. People mix them up. We must take into account the fact that there might be people without Traveller ethnicity who can give Travellers a bad name owing to their behaviour.