Mr. Laurence Bond:

On behalf of the Equality Authority, I thank the joint committee for its invitation to make a presentation today. It is the view of the authority that recognition of Traveller ethnicity is central to effective promotion of equality for members of the Traveller community. Such recognition has significant practical implications. International agreements and EU legislation will not name specific ethnic groups from particular states within their provisions on ethnicity. Therefore, Traveller ethnicity needs to be recognised by Ireland to ensure Travellers can fully enjoy the protections and benefits that flow from these agreements and legislation alongside other ethnic groups. In addition, Traveller ethnicity is a key factor that must be taken into account in identifying and responding to the needs of the Traveller community. Furthermore, equality is not only concerned with access to resources or decision-making, important as they are, but must involve access to recognition, status and standing in society. The recognition of Traveller ethnicity is in our view central to achieving equality of status or standing for the Traveller community and would provide a strong foundation for building new relationships of respect and solidarity between the Traveller and settled communities. Our submission to the Committee consists of a detailed consideration of the issue of Traveller ethnicity, which the authority published in 2006. Prior to this, as we have just heard, the Irish Human Rights Commission had already published an in-depth consideration of the question of the recognition of Travellers as an ethnic group from a legal perspective, which the Equality Authority endorsed. Our report, therefore, has a different focus.

It provides an overview of the evolution of public policy thinking on Travellers’ identity as a group in Irish society, drawing on the three major official reports on Travellers and related material, relevant Dáil debates and various statements of Government policy. What this overview shows is that official policy thinking has in fact moved to a position of strongly affirming the distinct culture and identity of Travellers as an indigenous minority within Irish society. There is indeed general consensus on this matter. It further shows that what this has actually meant is that in many ways, Traveller ethnicity has de facto been acknowledged. For example, I refer to the decision in the Equal Status Act 2000 to incorporate in equality legislation a definition of the Traveller community that was explicitly modelled on the Northern Ireland Race Relations Order 1996. Not surprisingly the incorporation of this definition in the legislation at the time was generally interpreted as confirming legislative recognition of Travellers as an ethnic group. However, if in on the one hand it appeared as though Traveller ethnicity was being acknowledged, on the other it was being denied and specifically in the context of Ireland’s engagement with the international human rights system. In the light of the positive shifts in official thinking that were evident, the position then taken by Ireland when reporting to CERD, in explicitly denying that Travellers should be recognised as an ethnic group in the international human rights context, was surprising to say the least. The basis for this denial was far from clear but at least in part was based on a claim that the argument that Travellers are an ethnic group was “controversial within academic research”. Our report, therefore, specifically addressed this issue through a detailed analysis of the principal academic literature on Travellers' ethnicity. This demonstrates that in fact, academic work overwhelmingly supports the recognition of Travellers as an ethnic group.

In conclusion, the Equality Authority believes that the case in support of recognising Traveller ethnicity is comprehensive and compelling. It is recommended that the Government should now recognise Travellers as an ethnic group and that this recognition should be reflected in all policies, programmes and institutional practices that affect the Traveller community.