Mr. Bernard Joyce:

Unfortunately, I do not have any further good news. The conversation I am having is about how far removed the Traveller community is from the political establishment and that includes the electoral register and voting. I know first-hand that Travellers would find the process of going into a Garda station to get an application form signed quite daunting and difficult. They would not get a sense of there being mutual respect. The challenge we face is to make the system more accessible but also to streamline it in a way that works for everybody, not only most people. I do not recall any research or work that has been specifically done with respect to minorities. We have called today for the commission to appoint a minority advisory committee for Travellers and other representative groups. Other groups can also experience a sense of being disenfranchised from the political establishment. Such an advisory committee would help to inform the commission's work or at least start the engagement process. We want to move to a level where people have confidence and can, as a constitutional right, vote but we need to make the system accessible to people to vote and to ensure they have the information to do that.