Ms Maria Joyce:

We welcome Deputy O'Callaghan's comment that these statistics are unacceptable because they are. Traveller infant mortality at three times the national average is absolutely unacceptable. Mr. Joyce has spoken about the unemployment rate for Travellers being in excess of 84%. During the recession when the national unemployment rate was at 14% and 15%, it was a crisis. Traveller unemployment is not considered a crisis even at absolutely astronomical levels. The suicide rate for Travellers is six times higher than the national average. These are not just statistics; these are people; this is a community. When one considers some of these figures, for example, suicide rates, it is clear we have a crisis and an epidemic, but there is no co-ordinated policy response, or any response, from the State for a significant community within its borders, and it is not addressing it in any comprehensive way.

We would welcome recognition tomorrow morning. We do not see it as the panacea to solving all the issues and problems but we see it as the first step in the right direction in that regard. Mr. Joyce talked about what recognition means as a Traveller, but basic fundamentals, such as respect, dignity and inclusion, and the impact they will have on every aspect of Travellers' lives, cannot be measured. Recognition will also mean that where Travellers have been excluded from policies developed by the State, in some instances intentionally, if they were recognised as an ethnic minority, they would not be excluded from those policy documents.