Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 November 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community

Traveller Health: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Mary Favier:

-----into general practice but integrated with the Traveller community in terms of how it perceives that it should be rolled out.

You talked about the statistics and when we can expect health statistics to improve. Our first challenge is to make sure they do not get worse. There has been such a structural undermining of some of the systemic supports, whether it is in the number of primary care workers in the Traveller area, whether it is the medical card issue or whether it is the accommodation crisis. There are statistically more Travellers who are homeless. The number is huge. They all impact in the broadest sense on health outcomes. That is the most important one. I imagine it could be 25 years. Again, I do not have a crystal ball, but it will be incremental, and there has to be an integrated approach.

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