Ms Maria Joyce:

If there was one key ask, what we would ask for is implementation at local level. We welcome the review, but in reality the provisions within the existing Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act are statutory and if they were put in place, it would address some of the issues in terms of the conditions in which Travellers have to live. Implementation at local level is a key block and that would be a key ask. Instrumental in that is the systematic, institutional racism and discrimination Travellers experience in all aspects of their lives, including societal.

I refer to Part 8. Taking that consultation with the public out of the remit in relation to Traveller accommodation is key. It is not a new concept and it has been said time and again. It has been done in other areas where provision is difficult in terms of social housing and homelessness and if the number of units is under 100. This is not difficult but there is absolutely no political will to make this happen. To say that this is difficult with the onus of blame on the community is damning and shaming and it should not be said by public servants. There is a public sector duty, which local authorities, like all State agencies, are obliged to implement from a human rights framework but they are not doing their duty on that in relation to Travellers and Traveller accommodation.

In terms of young people and politicisation, huge numbers of young Travellers are being so negatively impacted on in relation to accommodation. We heard this morning about the conditions on a site and that is not unique to one part of this country. A number of case studies have been submitted to the committee, including Labre Park and Spring Lane. They are the big ones and they are the headliners but this is an everyday occurrence because Travellers are being subjected to substandard, and overcrowded conditions. Implementation is key to ensure that projected need is addressed and to ensure that culturally appropriate provision is made available, and we do not need lessons in this day and age on what culturally appropriate accommodation is and should be. We also have to address the countless Traveller-specific accommodation that is there in terms of sites or group housing that is substandard. Given the lack of Traveller accommodation such sites have become more overcrowded, more dangerous and more unsafe and those conditions are not being addressed either. Those are just some of them.

We also have to remember that the suicide rate among Travellers is eight times higher than the national average, and that is in a country that has one of the highest levels of youth suicide in Europe. The impact of accommodation, as has been said earlier, across all aspects of Travellers' lives cannot be emphasised enough. I refer to good health and good education. I refer also to children leaving their homes in the morning without breakfast because of the toxic smells coming from the place in which they live, that is, a decommissioned site. It is shameful that we are actually saying that because it should not be happening.