Ms Geraldine McDonnell:

On behalf of Pavee Point, we warmly welcome the opportunity to present to the committee. We commend the committee for giving visibility to the key issues affecting Travellers during this challenging time. Given the limited time that we have and the complexities of the issues that we wish to highlight, we are going to focus explicitly on key issues and strategic recommendations as related to Travellers.

It is important to acknowledge from the beginning that while Covid-19 has had a huge impact on people globally, it has disproportionately impacted on marginalised and minority communities, including Travellers and Roma. We know that Travellers and Roma who get Covid-19 are more likely to end up in hospital, go into intensive care units, ICU, and die from the virus than the general population. This should not come as a surprise to anyone given Travellers well documented poor health, severe overcrowding and lack of access to the most basic facilities on Traveller sites. All of us were told how important it was to keep our distance and wash our hands to stop the spread of the virus. How can we expect Travellers to do this when we are living on top of each other and many of us do not even have access to running water? We know that the past year has been difficult for everyone's mental health and we rightly hear about this in the media, but for my community, the Traveller community, this pandemic came at a time when our mental health was already at a crisis point. The shocking data on Traveller mental health is well known. As a community we are a high risk group for suicide and poor mental health, including frequent mental distress. We know that Travellers experience a six times higher suicide rate, which accounts for about 11% of all Traveller deaths. This means that one in every ten Travellers will die by suicide. This is unacceptable for any community, let alone my community.

As mental health workers in Pavee Point, we have seen how Covid-19 has impacted our community and the stress that it has caused. Could members imagine the stress of living on a site without any water, toilet or basic facilities, worrying about trying to socially distance oneself and not spread the virus to one's family, or spreading it to one's older grandparents or older Travellers who are already vulnerable to the virus? Added to that, we must try to make sure that our children keep up with their education while often not having formal education ourselves, lacking computer literacy and digital skills. Most sites do not have Internet and it is hard to get space for children to do their work and concentrate in a crowded trailer or house.

The lockdowns were very hard for us. Most sites or group housing schemes no longer have green spaces, play areas or places for us to mix. We are increasingly forced to live in large ghettos on the outskirts of towns or near motorways. Where can our children safely play or go for a walk when there is no public lighting and no safe paths to walk? This all adds to our mental stress.

During the pandemic we have seen a lot of hate speech and anti-Traveller racism published on social media platforms. Imagine how this makes us feel. We are made to feel not welcome in Ireland, that we are second class citizens and that the country would be better off without us. This affects our health, especially our mental health. We have seen that in order to deal with this stress some Travellers, similar to the general population, have turned to drink and drugs, which has made the situation worse. We have witnessed the alarming numbers of Travellers self-harming and, unfortunately, Traveller suicides during this time. We personally know of two Traveller suicides in the past week alone.

We also know that similar to the general population, many Travellers did not have access to mental health services during this time. Instead, telemental health services were deployed to bridge the gap. We understand that this approach will be the one the services take in the future, but this approach is not suitable for the majority of Travellers given the well documented low levels of literacy which is needed to navigate technology, the lack of access to suitable technology and the lack of privacy when living in overcrowded accommodation.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Traveller organisations and Traveller primary healthcare projects have mobilised across the country to protect Travellers' health, including mental health. We have seen goodwill, support and collaboration from colleagues in the HSE and from Departments in working with us to ensure Traveller health concerns related to Covid-19 are addressed in an accessible and culturally appropriate manner.

That has been especially important at this challenging time when Travellers have been scared of the impact of the virus on our families and the wider community. We are hopeful that this will become a legacy of Covid-19 as we move into the future. However, what the pandemic has taught us is that we need Government leadership and a long-term plan. Such a plan must be focused, strategic and well resourced if we are serious about having better outcomes and protecting the health of Travellers. I hand over now to my colleague, Mr. Reilly, to present our recommendations.