Dr. Robbie McVeigh:

I am not disputing that, but a great deal of work has also been done. That needs to be recognised. The sad reality is that the situation of Roma and Travellers in many European countries is measured by the number of deaths. It is a low bottom line from which to start in terms of policy intervention, but the reality is that the Irish Government has, at different stages, at least taken the issue seriously and engaged with it. That needs to be recognised. The failure on ethnicity is awful and is not a glowing example to anyone in the world, but other interventions have been good. Other European member states would look to Ireland as being a model of good practice in that regard. I am not trying to paint a rosy picture, but I am suggesting that there is a history of good interventions, particularly by the Traveller support movement, that needs to be recognised. Interventions have been supported by members of most, if not all, political parties in that time. Their contribution also needs to be recognised. It is a curate's egg, in that there is a history of doing nothing. That is the reality.