Mr. Bernard Joyce:

I fundamentally believe that the treatment of Travellers based on their culture is wrong. Society and Ireland has moved on. We are a very diverse society and we welcome different communities. Our make-up and DNA is very different but we are all human. I feel strongly and passionately about that but I also feel a certain hurt and pain that people have within the community. Carrickmines was a tragedy but it also brought out a sense of the attitudes that exist within Irish society. We do not want another Carrickmines. We want to see a community that can be supported, enabled and take pride in who it is. The question in terms of recognition is only one part of the process going forward. If one looks at Northern Ireland and the process that has taken place there, we are starting from a very different footing in terms of the political activation and lobbying. We are asking for recognition of a more symbolic nature.

The second part is in terms of the State addressing the ills of past policies. The 1963 itinerancy report refers to issues such as simulation not integration. It referred to removing the culture within the Traveller community and absorbing it into the wider community. We are concerned about the new generation, that when they go into schools, they do not feel a sense of shame about who they are. When a lot of young people go into schools, teachers ask whether they should use the word "Traveller". This is because there is no leadership at a national level. That is something that needs to be driven from today and needs to be progressed. Given that the State has been independent for almost 100 years, the timing is right for the decision to be made on the recognition of Traveller ethnicity before the end of the year. If that was something the committee could recommend, it would be significant from a Traveller perspective.