Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have several questions. I hope I can remember them all. I will start with Dr. Cannon because she was the last speaker. I have a huge interest in the area of social enterprise. Ireland is very far behind other EU countries when it comes to the culture of social enterprise. I wonder if we are creating another system. I believe in social enterprise and I work in social enterprises, but I see the number of middle-class people who make applications to, say, the Department of Justice and Equality, which recently offered funding for social enterprises, or other such avenues. Income is created for the person who has the idea. Some of the funding streams allow a social entrepreneur to generate his or her own income while running a social enterprise like Shuttle Knit. I am just using Shuttle Knit as an example. Is enough being done to empower Travellers to build their own social enterprises so that they are the founders, they are the ones applying for funding, and they are the ones benefiting from the top level of income generated by them? I fear we are creating another system to benefit very middle-class people who are comfortable with applications and systems and who have connections in the Department of Justice and Equality.

We are not necessarily helping the most vulnerable groups to be the designers of their own social enterprises. I am thinking of the equestrian centre in Tallaght. I can look out at the Dublin Mountains right behind my house. Tallaght has a huge Traveller population and none of us is doing anything connected to horses or horse riding lessons at the foot of those hills. It really bothers me. Are we doing enough to ensure that social enterprises and social entrepreneurs within the Traveller community are developed and supported, rather than just providing them with another service?

That is a question on social enterprises. I believe in the concept of them and the circular economy. I would cite the example of women who gain income from knitting or sewing. While the intergenerational impact of such social enterprise is one of the important pieces of the puzzle, those who knit or sew are fearful of losing income benefit as they would not be gaining enough income to earn a living from knitting or sewing. Are we doing enough to ensure those women are no longer petrified of the State intervening and removing their social welfare benefits because the social enterprise in which they are engaged has brought them over the income limit allowed but the income they gain from it is not enough for them to sustain a living from it? The feel-good factor from engaging in social enterprise is always great but how do we measure the impact of it on those engaged in it in terms of progression?

Perhaps Ms Sherlock, Mr. Reilly or Mr. Power might answer a question I have regarding employment. We know people have confidence, numeracy and literacy issues all due to having been failed to date by the education system. Regardless of those issues, do they think there is still a stigma attached when it comes to employment? Mr. O'Leary pointed to this when he referred to the employment application process for the pharmaceutical sector where, regardless of those applicants' numeracy and literacy skills, Travellers would not have been employed in that sector in any event. A person nearly has to create his or her own employment. What work is needed to address the stigma issue in society, including among employers, so that Travellers would be employed in the mainstream workforce, be it in the retail sector, the pharmaceutical sector or in the teaching profession?

In relating the following, I am in no way comparing the Travelling community to the people concerned in the other work in which I am engaged. I have been doing a large body of work on people with minor convictions in their backgrounds. We found the biggest challenge was to address this issue with employers. We have had events where only people with past convictions developed and worked the event but the employers who attended it did not know that. They were being served all night by people who had past convictions. They did not have a clue. We had to push past those employers' preconceptions and show them they were losing out on the great potential these people presented and whom they would dismiss simply because they had a conviction in their background. How can we begin to address that issue with employers?

I was petrified when I brought those employers into the room with those people in my community, whom I love and care about and who I had got to work the event. I was afraid of the conversations. I was petrified I was walking my friends and the people I care about into a situation where those employers would say they would not have those people work for them because they would only rob their shop because they had been locked up for thieving. I probably feel overly protective of them, but as the night wore on, that did not happen, my fears did not come to pass and those employers got to address their bias and preconceived ideas about people. How can we do more of that integration work with employers and have those conversations? Quotas are very important and I would love to know how others feel about quotas in respect of Traveller employment or in any sphere in terms of the Traveller community.