Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the presentation. I have a number of points to make and a question to ask. I will not hit the witnesses with a load of platitudes regarding statistics. While I appreciate the statistics, I do not need to tell the witnesses how awful they are because they know better than anyone around the table the very negative impact on the Traveller community. I am a new member of the committee and I appreciate the Chairman maintaining engagement on this issue because it allows us new members to become better informed as we do work on the issue in the time ahead.

The issue of an apology was mentioned and I want to touch on this because I thought some of the points raised by Deputy O'Brien were pertinent. In the North we engage with the Government all the time to campaign and lobby the British Government, EU colleagues and others on the issue of apologies and recognition of hurt, pain and loss inflicted on communities in the North. It tells us it is doing this, and it is an absolute stain on it and a shame that it would have the audacity to ask other people for apologies, as right as it is in doing this and as justifiable and as much as they are needed, without affording the apology to our Traveller citizens for the hurt, pain and institutionalised prejudice, sometimes brutality inflicted on them.

My question is on the issue of recognition, and recognition in the North has been touched on. Many of our Traveller communities in the North still face the same issues outlined by the witnesses, even with recognition. For the benefit of those of us who are new and those of us coming to this issue, and some of this has been touched on, will the witnesses expand slightly on what it will look like? What will it mean in a practical legislative tangible way for the Traveller community? I appreciate the issue of recognition of itself is important culturally, psychologically and for the community, but in terms of some of the issues touched on by Ms Joyce, for example, the lack of Traveller representation in the Houses, do they call for quotas? Would it allow for this? Perhaps it is too much. Perhaps the witnesses can provide us with information, and if this is the case I would appreciate it.