Mr. Thomas McCann:

In answer to the question as to why this is the case, there is a long history of exclusion. As was said, usually the powerless are written out of history. Sometimes there is a thing called the alternative history, the laws that were made against people. I recently looked at the Vagrancy Act from the 1500s or 1600s that named one of the groups as tinkers. It goes way back and this State has just carried on this exclusion which has gone on for centuries. There is a power dimension.

As was said, there are benefits for people in terms of identity, feeling included in the State and equality. There is the right to have one's identity recognised. I think we have a right to be recognised in this State. We are members of this State and have been here for a long time. We have a right to be recognised by the State as an ethnic group. There is a power dimension and each time we have to justify. It is with the best will in the world that people come to the table and ask what the benefits of that are. However, we have to constantly justify why and what the outcome of that would be. If the tables were turned and the settled people were on the other side and were coming to us and asking why settled culture should not be recognised, I think members would have an understanding of the frustration we feel, constantly having to put that argument forward.

The evidence is there. There has been report after report. We know the conditions. We need to change that. I spoke earlier about the neighbours of the people in Carrickmines coming out and protesting. That would not happen with any other group.

That told us something about the state of the relationship between Travellers and the settled community. Recognition would begin to change this. Not only does the State need to recognise Traveller ethnicity, it must also make a formal apology to Travellers for the injustice done to them. Mincéirs Whiden calls for such a formal apology because Travellers might then believe some positive action will be taken and that it will be meant rather than an idle statement. Recognition of Traveller ethnicity and an apology to the Traveller community for what the State has done to Travellers are needed. This is there in black and white and it needs to be acted on if relationships and conditions are to change. It would be a stepping stone in building new relationships. That is the key effect it would have.