Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my late arrival. I was attending another meeting. I welcome Dr. McVeigh and Dr. Mac Laughlin whom I know by reputation. I am delighted to see them both here and I thank them for coming before the committee. I read their papers in advance of the meeting and they make a very strong case for recognition of Traveller ethnicity and this is very much to be welcomed from my point of view.

Several points sprung out at me from the papers and if they have already been addressed I apologise. The onus of proof being on those who take the ethnicity denial position is a strong argument to make because it is not an evidence-based position. There tends to be an assumption that the entire onus of proof is on those making the case for recognition so this is a useful argument and point which has been teased out, particularly in Dr. McVeigh's paper. The anomaly whereby Travellers lose recognition when crossing the Border from Northern Ireland is also a strong point with regard to the duty of equity of recognition of rights on both sides of the Border, which sometimes we overlook but which was very much in common currency at the time of the original Good Friday Agreement. We should bear this in mind.

I welcome my old friend and long-term activist Rosaleen McDonagh, who is in the Gallery.