Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee On Key Issues Affecting The Traveller Community

Traveller Employment: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Marcella Corcoran KennedyMarcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions this morning. I must say the contributions over the last number of weeks have been very enlightening and will really help inform the recommendations of our report. With every document I read and every contribution I hear, I am thinking about what recommendations to make to ensure that witnesses' voices are heard and that there are actually actions as a result of it. From what I have been hearing over the past number of weeks, the biggest barriers seem to be the racial profiling, stereotyping and institutional racism. The other problem I am hearing is lack of funding.

It strikes me that as a committee, we have to think about the whole approach that any future Government is going to have to take in dealing with this matter. There has to be a whole-of-government approach and a whole-of-society approach. We have to take that approach because if we do not, there is going to be a certain pocket of money here and a certain pocket of money there; some agencies will be productive and others will not. There was a reference to a gentleman who lost business because a Garda with prejudices allowed those prejudices to influence the fact that he damaged a man's reputation and his opportunity to make a business deal. That would be unacceptable and is unacceptable now. What I am trying to get at is that every single Department would have a proper education system in place and that it would be part of their training, so that they would understand much better the outcome of their actions and understand about racial profiling, stereotyping and the impact they can have. That is one thing. The other thing is around media and how the media report certain things. I am going back to the whole-of-society approach. In third level institutions where people are designing degree programmes, perhaps there should be specific modules for those who are training to work in media, business or whatever, so that there would be a piece there for them and they would learn about all this.

There is something much broader here than just picking certain areas where we need to put in funding. I would love to hear the witnesses' views on that. There will be a general election coming up quite soon and I was just wondering if any engagement has been made with political parties in terms of their manifestos and what actions they will putting into them. I know this is a bit broader but it is no harm to be thinking about it anyway.

That could be engaged with straightaway and would be important.

I agree with what has been said about affirmative action and mainstreaming, which would be crucial.

I also thought what was said about older people was interesting. I think about the skills of some older men and women. The Irish Men's Sheds Association is a great organisation with which I have had many dealings and I wonder has there been engagement with them at national level. It is a good organisation, which receives quite a lot of public funding. Some of the recently retired men I know in the settled community are finding them fantastic outlets and similar organisations would be good for the older community. I heard recently that women's sheds have also been established, which is interesting. Ms Quilligan's statement on the elders and their demands for action was moving. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure the change that has been demanded takes place and I would be interested in hearing the views of our guests.

The pilot scheme with the SEAI is a great idea but we need more than pilots; that must be mainstreamed.

This is the direction in which we need to be going and I would like to hear the views of our guests about the whole-of-society approach. If change is to happen, that is the only way it is going to work.

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