Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I am taking on board many of the things people have been saying. I often wonder how much things have changed, because sometimes in the community it is difficult to see that aspect. I have developed many relationships in dealing with people in places like Finglas. We have a large Traveller community in our area. I am in and out of different locations and communities and changes come very slowly. When Dr. McGann was talking about IBEC, do we know how many Travellers each year are employed through IBEC and its associated groups? Do we have any idea of the figures in that regard? I ask that because it seems that everything is happening very slowly.

Within the Traveller community, people have their own minds and a blockage in that regard in respect of certain things. I refer to the attitude towards women in the Traveller community, which can be a bit difficult to understand for many people. I certainly agree that the local authorities and organisations such as the Civil Service should be taking in people, particularly those with disabilities, from the Traveller community. There should be positive discrimination in that regard. There is positive discrimination in general in the Civil Service in respect of people with disabilities. However, I would love to see the figures for the local authorities and the Civil Service in respect of how much things have improved over the years.

Turning to people from the Traveller community with criminal records, that is a difficult issue. From what I can see, employers are very reluctant to employ Travellers who have criminal records. Regarding how we go about tackling that issue, I was interested to listen to some of the ideas suggested in this regard. That aspect needs to be carefully thought out and worked on, because it is very worrying. I refer, in particular, to people having convictions held over them. It is an area which needs to be looked at very carefully. Much comes down to education as well, and to trying to get people into the workforce and break down these barriers which exist in certain jobs and in taking up certain types of employment. I believe sometimes we come across people in the Traveller community who do not feel that a certain area is for them, and we must break down those barriers.

Work is needed in organisations such as the old FÁS, now replaced by SOLAS and the education and training boards, ETBs, and other training centres to get people past that step. We can sometimes get people in and get them training, but then getting them to a stage where they pick up permanent jobs or some other employment is really hard. There is a great challenge involved in trying to bring people on, as opposed to just getting them trained. We need more stable jobs, more consistency in jobs coming up and to try to target people and get them into those jobs. Those are my thoughts in respect of this matter.