Dr. Frances McGinnity:

I thank the committee for extending an invitation to the ESRI to appear today. I am here, virtually, with my colleague Dorothy Watson. We are presenting results based on our work as senior researchers at the ESRI with more than 15 years’ experience in the areas of social inclusion, equality and discrimination. As researchers, we have studied the disadvantage experienced by a range of groups, particularly those covered by the nine grounds specified in equality legislation. Of these groups, it is fair to say that the degree of disadvantage experienced by Travellers is by far the greatest across these groups in a range of areas, including the reported experience of discrimination, educational attainment, employment, housing and health. Those are key domains of life.

We would like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to some specific points in our submission. Our submission is largely based on a report using census data, which captures the entire population in Ireland and compares Travellers and non-Travellers. This report uses data from 2011 because those were the data available at the time, but evidence suggests that little has changed since then. We found very high levels of educational disadvantage. Among those of working age, between the ages of 25 and 64, only 8% of Travellers had completed the leaving certificate, compared with 73% of non-Travellers. Only 1% of Travellers of working age had a third level degree, compared with 30% of non-Travellers. We found that the gap between Travellers and others in completing second level was larger among younger adults. Among those aged 25 to 34, an estimated 91% of Travellers left school without completing second level education, compared with only 14% of non-Travellers. This suggests that Travellers had not benefitted as much as non-Travellers from the considerable improvement in levels of education in Ireland since the 1960s.

I will turn to employment levels, which is the focus of today's session, and the importance of education. As many members know, paid work is important for many reasons. It provides people with a source of income, facilitates financial independence and allows them to contribute to society, as well as conferring social standing, a sense of identity and a sense of purpose. Not having a job is strongly linked to poverty and social exclusion, as well as physical and mental health challenges. We found dramatic differences between Travellers and non-Travellers in employment rates. Some 11% of Travellers aged between 25 and 64 were employed, compared with 66% of non-Travellers. Of those in the labour market, the unemployment rate was 82% for Travellers aged 25 to 64, compared with 17% for others.

Education differences have a big impact on the chances of employment. In our work, we found the lower levels of education among Travellers were very important in accounting for Travellers not having a job. The statistical model we used allowed us to ask what would be the results if Travellers and non-Travellers had the same characteristics in terms of their education, age and other characteristics. It is a what-if model and, if we apply it, the employment rate of Travellers would be just under two times lower instead of the observed six times lower. This helps us understand some of the barriers to employment and also highlights the importance of educational qualifications in the labour market. Travellers who had higher levels of education had a much better chance of being employed than those with lower levels of education. We had data on all Travellers from the census. Some 57% of Travellers with further or higher education were employed, compared with 9% of Traveller with no second level education. Even at higher levels of education, however, it is important to note that the employment level of Travellers was lower than that of others. The fact that a twofold gap in employment between Travellers and others remained, after accounting for education and other factors, suggests that there are additional barriers in the labour market that make getting a job more difficult for Travellers.

Other research we have done examined the self-reported experience of discrimination among the population in Ireland in 2014. Irish Travellers reported rates of discrimination in seeking work that were ten times higher than other white Irish, even accounting for age, education and other background characteristics. These results suggest that discrimination in recruitment is likely to play a role in accounting for the high unemployment rate among Travellers, as well as lack of social networks, not hearing about opportunities and other factors. Lack of work is closely linked to poverty and social exclusion and this, in turn, has consequences for living standards, particularly with regard to poor housing and homelessness, and for physical and mental health.

There are policy implications of our findings. Enhancing the educational achievement of Travellers is crucial to ensuring that they can participate in employment and in society more generally. It is unlikely that this can be achieved through mainstream policies alone. Targeted approaches that address the specific challenges of Travellers are needed. The size of the disadvantage in employment rates suggests that as well as being included in mainstream employment policies, additional targeted supports are necessary. The level of prejudice against Travellers needs to be tackled by promoting a positive image of their culture and contribution to society. Discrimination in employment should be tackled as a matter of urgency. There is a role for Government policy and for action by employers to monitor, prevent and respond to discrimination affecting Travellers in seeking work and in the workplace. Incorporating actions into the anti-racism strategy that is currently being drafted is also important in this regard. The scale and persistence of labour market disadvantage among this group means considerable effort will be required through multiple policies and measures, and it may take time.