Mr. Bernard Joyce:

This is my third time before the committee and, as director of the Irish Traveller Movement, I welcome the committee’s examination of Traveller employment. As a community we have played a significant role within the economy over many generations, if not centuries, through markets, trade, including trade in horse ownership, music, arts and labour on farms, as well as being social entrepreneurs. When recycling was not fashionable, Travellers were frowned on by the vast majority of the population for their recycling of goods and materials. It is now highly regarded. Travellers are the social entrepreneurs of Ireland and have played a significant role in this regard.

A recent survey carried out by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, indicated that 83% of the general population said they would not employ a Traveller. That is very disturbing and worrying. As a community, we are ten times more likely than white Irish to experience discrimination in Ireland, and the discrimination is far higher in the hospitality sector, where Travellers are unable to even get beyond the front door to access services. Like all the other social determinants of our lives, our opportunity for economic security and progression has a deep effect on our life opportunities and is a significant contributing factor to poverty, mental health issues and exclusion. The natural instinct for all of us is to strive to become better and remove ourselves from the chains of poverty. We work harder at times for less.

My colleagues will today articulate these matters better than I can but it is a national disgrace that 80% of Travellers are unemployed at a time of economic success. I do not just want to focus on these matters; we now need to ensure progression towards economic stability for the Traveller community. There is a need for significant commitment from the Government if Travellers are to fully experience quality of life and benefit from wealth at a time of economic success, where the description is "full" employment. It is vital that our community is facilitated in sharing the benefits of increased wealth. It is no longer a question of just surviving as we want to strive and achieve.

There are 13 actions towards employment and the Traveller economy within the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy. Seven of these come under the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection but there is no executive lead within the Department where those actions should be ring-fenced and driven as part of a specific strategy. The inclusion strategy's action No. 25 relates to youth in particular, and it requires the development of targeted initiatives to increase Traveller and Roma engagement with employment and training. None of the youth-related actions is segregated by Travellers and Roma and it is not proposed to report on this regularly.

In Ireland’s country report to the EU Commission under the Youth Guarantee, no data were provided on Travellers but they represent the largest unemployment group, pro rata, in the country and they are the earliest school leavers. These people are a significant cohort for targeting within the Youth Guarantee but no specific monitoring is undertaken due to the lack of an ethnic identifier. The Department also reports that the "mainstream indicators used to monitor unemployment and labour market changes are detailed in Pathways to Work." However, Travellers are not specifically targeted or named in the Pathways to Work strategy.

Within the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, for 2018 to 2022, led by the Department of Rural and Community Development, there are aims to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality in Ireland through supporting communities and individuals using community development approaches, engagement and collaboration.

In its last report at the end of 2018 it noted: "Only a small proportion of the LCGs primarily targeted members of Roma (less than1%) and 3% of Travellers. The difficulty in identifying and engaging with these groups was reported by the Local Development Companies (LDCs) and continues to be one of the key challenges of the programme. Travellers, members of new communities and Roma were the least engaged groups in training, volunteering and employment by the SEs". Some 52% of Travellers on the SICAP case load in 2018 were placed on a course, yet only 3% in 2018 progressed into employment. This is with a budget of €39 million.

The task force report recommendations of 1995 said that the public service should take a lead in the recruitment of Travellers in the mainstream labour force in Ireland. There are 31 local authorities and funding for local government is provided mainly by the Government as well as the local property tax. There are approximately 27,188 employed by all local authorities in Ireland. Dublin City Council is the largest employer with 5,330 staff. There are 304,000 people employed across the public service. Surely there are opportunities for employment there. "Opening Pathways to Employment for Travellers in South Dublin County Council" from March 2006 to March 2017 developed a model that can be replicated in public sector bodies. Overall, the State has not established a national Traveller employment strategy to look at the innovative and ring-fenced programmes needed to reduce Traveller unemployment in a time of economic success. There is no strategy in place to oversee this, yet there are employment opportunities that could be delivered in public bodies.

I am happy to address questions from members of the committee and to draw on the submission and recommendations we sent to the committee.