Ms Rosemary Adaser:

I thank the Chairman. We compared and analysed all of our symptoms and conducted an impact statement. We tried to articulate a way to describe how we felt on a day-to-day basis. As Ms Brennan said, my master's degree is in social policy and politics. I am always tuned into political concepts. We have learned a lot about race from the UK and, more importantly, from America. It is the obvious place to learn from in terms of the African-American experience. One thinks that because we come from Ireland the experience is not that similar, but it is remarkably similar because the common denominator is racism.

In 2005 Dr. Joy DeGruy published a book on post-traumatic slavery syndrome. The symptoms of that mirrored how we felt. One symptom is low self worth. I spoke briefly about what that means. It concerns how we see ourselves internally. Self esteem is how one thinks other people see one externally. Other symptoms include helplessness, rage and the expectation one will never amount to anything. I listened to Dr. DeGruy and thought, "My Goodness. That is us." It was that simple. It is a framework which adequately explained the symptoms which we as a community endured on a daily basis. That is why we referred to our particular trauma as post-traumatic slave syndrome, and not post-traumatic stress disorder. Many of us have other disorders such as depression, anxiety and hyper vigilance, but there is another element which is entirely attributable to racism.