Ms Joanna Corcoran:

Yes. There are two parts to this. Regarding the underspend of the Traveller accommodation budget, I agree that there need to be consequences and accountability, but this should not be achieved to the detriment of the Traveller community. Funding should not be taken from one local authority and brought to another; it should be spent by the local authority that has received it. The accountability and consequences should not be for the Traveller community but rather for the authorities that are refusing to spend the funding on much-needed culturally appropriate Traveller accommodation. The local authorities should be held to account and should face consequences. The funding should not be spread around. It definitely should not be given back because we have all seen the consequences of that.

As far as the hate speech legislation is concerned, we as Travellers - I know I would not be alone in saying this - have experienced hate speech in a way that would not be acceptable to other people in this country, let alone in other parts of the world. My view on this is that a code of conduct needs to be put in place and that people need to be led by example from the Government and the local authorities. In addition, the development of the national anti-racism strategy would definitely be essential to addressing this, and we definitely need to develop and enact the hate crime legislation in which Travellers are referred to, as I said earlier.