Ms Tanya Ward:

Regarding the Traveller situation, representation at different levels is very important. I am not aware of any Travellers standing for election at the moment but there are obviously black and ethnic minority people coming forward. What is very positive to see is that Traveller organisations are doing a lot of leadership development at the moment. One will see great people starting to come up through education, including people with PhDs, who are going to lead into the future. Excellent work has been done by Travellers themselves. Mobilisation of the Traveller community to speak for themselves and to organise themselves and to lead is fundamental to addressing the key issues. It is shocking to hear that there is money available for accommodation which is not being spent. We always complain that no money is being made available by central government. We need something more radical if we are going to change the figures because the State is just paying for it in other ways. The State pays because Travellers are in homeless accommodation. We are paying for it in terms of health services. The Senator is right that infant mortality rates, the high death rate for adult men and low employment rates all smack of deep levels of deprivation that we have allowed to happen over a long period. I do not know whether people realise that half of all Travellers are children and young people under the age of 18. It is an extraordinary opportunity to engage in early intervention to address the deep levels of discrimination and deprivation. I will pass over to my colleague, Ms Quinn, to discuss mental health.