Ms Maria Joyce:

Much has been said here this morning and in many other places about the conditions Traveller children, parents, men and women live in. The conditions of the children in Spring Lane which were spoken about in terms of their lived experience are similarly substandard to those of many Traveller children across the country. If those shoes were being walked in by the majority population that are walked in by Traveller children and Travellers, the failure by this State would not have held the way it has in the context of Traveller accommodation through the decades. That is the sad reality.

We can keep talking but what is needed now is action. The stories those children told are those that every Traveller child in substandard accommodation and homelessness could tell. If that was experienced by the people who can make a difference and make the delivery happen, it would not have gone on and the State would not have continued to fail Traveller children. There is an onus on the report coming from this committee to reinforce those points, which I think it will, with regard to implementation and action.