Ms Maria Joyce:

I will be brief because I know some members have committees to go to. I welcome the points made by Deputies Éamon Ó Cuív and Joan Collins about proposing firm action from this committee. Action is needed. There is a link to the Oireachtas and a need for legislative responses. Deputy Ó Cuív is right that more than one convention centre could be filled with all the strategies and reports on Travellers, all containing damning indictments of the conditions that Travellers are living in, across accommodation, education, health, employment and a number of areas. Today's focus is accommodation. Strategies and plans are not being delivered on, which is the crucial problem, because there is no accountability, sanctions or follow-through when they are not delivered. I welcome Deputy Collins's points about how this has been framed and how Travellers have called for it for decades.

This is about the most basic rights but it is important that it is framed in the context of human rights. People do not have basic services like water, sanitation and toilet provision. It is a violation at the most basic levels when people are living in these conditions and those needs are not being met. The context of rights and that framework is crucial. Either Deputy Ó Cuív or Deputy Collins said that there have been too many excuses for too long now, with the can being kicked down the road. This is too often the reality with Traveller accommodation. It is not good enough to have condemnation and criticism when these reports emerge despite the fact that Travellers and Traveller organisations have long been noting these issues and have met walls blocking progress because there is no political fallout, accountability, or consequences for local authorities and elected officials with regard to the non-delivery of Traveller accommodation.

Action and implementation are critical and are needed. I was speaking to number of local Traveller organisations in Cork last week. One said that it is an awful indictment of ourselves that we have to say that we welcome this kind of report, but welcome it we did. She also acknowledged the bravery of the Ombudsman in going to the lengths that he did in the report. We need those kinds of clear recommendations and clear action that will lead to consequences for local authorities and the State when there is non-delivery.

There have not been many bright spots in Covid-19, if any at all, but it has shown that where there is a will, there is a way. Where some local authorities acted, they could deliver. It was not nearly enough. As one delegate said earlier, it took Covid to make the most basic provision like water or sanitation available. Things can be made to happen where there is that political will. Covid has shown that things can happen right across Irish society and that lesson needs to be emphasised. That is all that we are asking for. We are not asking for anything magical or new. We are asking for an acceptance of viewing Traveller accommodation from a human rights perspective that responds to the community, its needs, and its ethnicity. While new legislation is important, in the context of recognising Travellers as an ethnic minority, it is also important that we dismantle legislation that is contradictory to the way of life, ethnic status, and the community. That includes the trespassing legislation. I do not want to wait until other things are in place to make that to happen. I want legislation that impacts in a disproportionate and negative way on Travellers to be dismantled in tandem with the conditions being created so that we will not be back here at any time in the future saying the same things over and over again.