Ms Ronnie Fay:

To add briefly to what Mr. McCann and Ms Crickley said, recognition of Traveller ethnicity would make intangible differences which cannot be properly measured. The impact of the referendum on marriage equality is a good example. The referendum made a major difference for gay people but these differences are hard to identify because gay people were already protected in law and had access to rights, etc. Many intangibles will flow from recognition of Traveller ethnicity, as people will feel accepted, respected and part of society. There are many intangible issues that we cannot put our fingers on but which will make a major difference to people's feelings of self-esteem and self-respect.

One of the tangible differences recognition would make is that Travellers would become more visible. I acknowledge that the joint committee has a wide brief and members have different interests and focuses. The recently published action plan for education recommends only one Traveller-specific action, which relates to Travellers in third level education. This is against a backdrop of major inequality in education, cuts in resource teaching and visiting teachers for Travellers, cuts in school transport and so forth. I should say that we lobbied for the action recommended in the education plan and it would make a start.

My point is that I do not blame members because I know they are all busy. Nevertheless, they need to ask how legislation can be Traveller proofed, as it were. One of the best ways to do so is to keep the Traveller issue in mind. It is not the case that legislators set out to discriminate. People are busy and racism can be sometimes unintentional but unintentional racism has exactly the same impact as intentional racism.

Recognition of Traveller ethnicity would have real tangible and intangible effects. The main intangible benefit would be in terms of visibility, active participation and consciousness. A further benefit would be if legislation were Traveller proofed, which means asking what would be the impact of legislation coming through the Oireachtas on Travellers.

As I stated, we should consider the action plan for education in the context of inequality in education. For example, given that 62% of Travellers experience discrimination in school and only 13% complete second level schooling, why is there only one action on Travellers in the recent action plan? Those are the types of issues that must be addressed.