Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses for their presentations. In January 2019, the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection examined the experience of JobPath and heard from researchers from the Waterford Un/employment Research Collaborative. One of the first things the researchers mentioned was the experience of the Traveller community on JobPath. Among other nasty experiences there was a young man who not only was put on the wrong course but was enrolled by JobPath on a course that required what were described as reasonable levels of literacy despite the fact he had low levels of literacy. The worst part was they forced him to amend his CV against his wishes to hide his ethnicity. The Department responded to the claim saying it had no awareness of such an allegation nor had any complaint to that effect been made. That is fair enough but these JobPath services are provided by the Department of Social Protection through Turas Nua and Seetec. The services are outsourced and a lot of money was paid for them in the past.

I am frustrated and wish to ask Dr. McGann a question, and not in an entirely negative way. Where are the protocols, standards and training when it comes to JobPath, Seetec, Turas Nua and even the members of IBEC? Whatever about the public sector, it is outrageous that such a situation happened to the young man although an official complaint was never made. I know, having lived in Ballyfermot, that when young Travellers have sought jobs, in particular in shops, the negativity from employers they were met with was humiliating to say the least, and these employers were members of IBEC. Have protocols, standards or training for employers been put in place? I ask because shops are the first port of call, particularly for young Travellers who may only want to take up temporary jobs during the summer or at Christmas time and do not necessarily wish to have a permanent job or go into a public sector workplace.

I totally agree with what has been said about using the public sector to give people a chance to get work experience and training. Dr. McGann referred in her submission to "The work done in 2006 with the integrated workplace initiative co-ordinated by the Equality Authority, and supported by trade unions and employers". I ask her to expand on that aspect because that was 15 years ago and I have no recollection of the initiative or any involvement in same. She proposed that it would be worth revisiting the initiative and considering what it achieved. What did it achieve? What was the value of it?

I wish to comment on the experience Mr. Ward described. He told us a wonderful story about Travellers working on the warmer homes scheme and being backed by the contractor against the negativity meted out by people whose homes Traveller workers had to go into to carry out the necessary adjustments to people's homes. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Climate Action. This is a great opportunity for us to be inclusive of Travellers doing work because ti is not just about moving away from our carbon footprint being too high but also about providing green new jobs. If there are green new jobs available in insulating homes and improving people's life experience by not having to use too much carbon to heat their homes, would it not be a good suggestion to ask the Government to box off a certain amount of these jobs for the Travelling community, to upskill both men and women of the Travelling community to carry out this work, and for the Government to see this initiative as part of a green new deal? The whole basis of a green new deal is about being more inclusive, sustainable and having a fairer and more caring society. The initiative would be a good example of that. If all this money is being put into warmer homes schemes, retrofitting and improving people's lives, it should be used to the advantage of the Travelling community.

I totally and utterly agree with the public sector being obliged to give Travellers a chance, in particular local authorities because that is where Travellers will be seen, whether it is working in the public domain, in the parks or, indeed, on public desks dealing directly with the public. As is always said, if you cannot see it, you cannot be it.

I agree with all that has been said about having safe workplaces and having local authorities. I am very interested, however, in finding out how we impose standards and protocols on both employers and companies like Turas Nua, Seetec and anybody who must deal with Travellers either by refusing them employment or by helping them to attain employment.