Mr. Patrick Nevin:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend. We have almost come to the 100th anniversary of the Irish State's foundation.

From the beginning, Travellers were denied ownership of their identity and historical place in its foundation. This is very obvious in the 1952 Irish Folklore Commission survey. In this document we see how it was the sedentary members of society who were given the opportunity to speak as well as name, place and deny Travellers the ownership of their position in the broader sphere of Irish society. This document is used as a key source by academics at home and abroad as a starting point in their academic discourse on Travellers. We see how Travellers were to become either idealised or denigrated and made into objects of representation and investigation. Yet, at no time do we hear the voice of the Travellers in this document.

From the 1960s onwards, we seen a deepening interest in the Traveller community and we see the State taking a more active role in the problem of Travellers. I use the statement the "problem of Travellers" openly as this was how the State viewed the Traveller or tinker community. This was to culminate in the Government publication of the report of the Commission on Itinerancy in 1963. In this report we see again that the voice of Travellers is not represented. The commission was made up of various representatives of official Ireland. The opening statement by the chairman to the commission outlines what the commission was intent on doing. The statement makes it clear that the solution to the Traevller problem was the complete absorption of the Traveller community and it follows that there can be no final solution of the problems created by itinerants until they are absorbed into the general community. We must see this as the starting point when we are looking at the barriers and the key issues affecting Travellers, whether they are accessing education, accommodation, health or unemployment.

This open and transparent assault on the Traveller community way of life and identity must be acknowledged as a major contributory factor to the exclusion of Travellers from the State and its various institutions. To respond to the serious issues Travellers face in their everyday lives we must accept that the State needs to look at the issue of reparations. We have to acknowledge this injustice as we have acknowledged the injustice committed upon the women who were institutionalised in such places as the Magdalen laundries. A total of 60 years of State-sponsored denial of Traveller identity and culture has not only impacted on their educational attainment but has created an internalised oppression, barriers and lack of self-worth within the Traveller community. What I mean by reparations is that the State must remedy this at a structural level. It could start by addressing the deficit of Traveller culture and history within the education system. This must be a priority for the State if it is serious in trying to reverse six decades of assimilationist policies. It must also put in place affirmative action programmes to mirror those in the United States, Canada and Australia. While there are still major issues impacting on the various communities affected in these countries, the overall picture is one of positivity.

Since March 2017 our ethnicity has been acknowledged. However, this on its own does not acknowledge or repair the damage that has been inflicted on the Traveller community by the State with its policies of absorption and assimilation. The State and its institutions need to accept their direct role in the catastrophic damage to the Traveller community. We must have an open transparent and honest discourse like we have had in recent years in regard to other State and institutionalised wrongs. Our submission, Tallaght Travellers, has to some extent outlined several recommendations and ways that we can move forward in partnership and achieve a more equal and improved society. While addressing education we must remember that State policies have also had a negative impact and created inequalities and poor outcomes for my community in other areas including health, employment accommodation culture and language. My thanks to the committee.