Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the delegates who are contributing today. What they are saying is dark and depressing in some ways. Sometimes at meetings of these committees, I have questions but I am not sure what to say today. As Mr. Reilly said, the Traveller community is in pain. The internalisation of racism and discrimination is hard to quantify if one has never experienced it. I have experienced it but not at the level of members of the Traveller community. The institutionalisation of racism against the Travelling community is hard to quantify mentally and physically.

Let me refer to the terrible connotations of the media in this country and certain politicians who stored up horrible stereotypes of the Traveller community. We are all human and there is only so much of this a person can take. This leads to internalisation and mental health difficulties. It can be very difficult to share the hurt, which leads to people taking their own lives.

If this involved any other ethnic group in this country, it would be deemed a crisis. There is no political will to challenge these stereotypes and what is happening to the Traveller community. As Mr. Reilly alluded to, there has been an 80% cut in funding to the Traveller community since 2008. The advisory committee has not met since 2012. The landscape is stark. This all feeds down to a negative perception that members of the Traveller community do not have a contribution to make to society. Nothing could be further from the truth. If that is being constantly said to someone, it will have a detrimental effect on their well-being and lead them to taking their own lives.