Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community

Traveller Employment: Discussion

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is no problem. Many issues have been covered. The witnesses spoke about what was needed to improve the Traveller community's prospects in education and beyond. I had contact with an individual who had been homeless for approximately four years. He eventually got accommodation in a bedsit. For the past four years, he has found it difficult to match his skills with the Intreo office. His money was cut off at one stage because he was afraid to attend the office. In employment, social protection, education and all of those other areas in which the State has a role to play, the organisations involved will need to develop affirmative policies so as to link with the community immediately and ask it where they can direct long-term strategies to get people into work and an environment where they can feel positive and confident. The individual I mentioned has no confidence in himself and is nervous of the community around him. All of these factors come into it. Departments have no awareness of people from the Traveller community.

Is any Traveller organisation involved in the Pathways to Work strategy? I presume there is.

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