Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This has been very interesting. Dr. McDonagh hit the nail on the head when she said that it is all about the lack of implementation. To be quite honest, we have a great amount of reports, committees and commissions of investigation but, looking at it through the lens of the people from the Traveller community for whom I work and whom I represent, there has been very little in the nature of implementation or of real change with regard to accessing basic services without difficulty.

I totally agree with Mr. McCann about the issue of Part 8. There is another issue involved, which is the refusal of local authorities, in many cases, to transfer land to the likes of Cena. That requires the council itself, by which I mean the members, to make a decision. It is a major barrier to spending money, to getting things done and to progress. It is not something we should shirk away from. I was interested in the proposal, because I have been proposing the same thing for a long time, that these should go straight to the board. Let those who have an objection object, but the board should make a decision in line with national policy, which has been clearly outlined here time and again by Government but which is not being followed by the local authorities. When I say that, I mean the actual local authorities because, while there are obviously differences between individuals, in many cases I find that social workers and officials are very sympathetic to the Traveller community. That is not true of all of them, but it is of very many. There is a major structural problem arising from having to go through Part 8.

That leads me on to the set of 31 reports which have been carried out by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. I was looking at the one in respect of County Galway. My specific question is: are these the final recommendations or are we to get a final report? Many of the recommendations are what I would call soft recommendations, by which I mean that you can do the things recommended while not fundamentally changing anything, such as Part 8, on the ground. I have a major issue. I am delighted that the number one recommendation related to the issuance of caravan loans. That is a major challenge at the moment. It is not happening and people are living in freezing conditions in inadequate caravans because that scheme is not working. I have a case with the Ombudsman on behalf of a constituent in this regard. We are pressing to get an answer but have not yet got one.

Looking further through the report, I do not see the council or the commission's recommendations addressing this Part 8 issue. There is a further complication in Galway but I will discuss the Part 8 issue now. It is a major issue and has held up vital housing for Travellers. Settled people were also affected but I was dealing specifically with Travellers who were lined up for these houses, which were held up as a result of Part 8. In some cases, children with severe disabilities were also involved. It is not humane and it is not fair. It is wrong. Will the commission be making recommendations on this again and, going back to what Dr. McDonagh said, will they be a little more focused on getting action, implementation and change, whether certain people with certain powers want it or not?

I admire the work of FLAC, which is very important, but I fully agree with what Mr. O'Neill said. People should not have to go to the law to get a house from a public authority. It is wrong, immoral and cruel. It is also far too slow. If people with resources are fighting you, they are always at a big advantage. They are also more skilled at it. I know FLAC will do everything it can but at the end of the day, nobody - more importantly, no community because that is what we are talking about here - should have to go again and again to the law to get fundamental rights vindicated.

Going back to the IHREC witnesses, I have no doubt they will have seen the book, Pluralism and Diversity in Ireland, by Fr. Mícheál Mac Gréil. The last edition was published in 2011. Fr. Mac Gréil has been tracking this issue for 30 years. It is worth citing the report to show the witnesses from IHREC what it is up against as an equality authority. According to the report, 9% of settled people will accept kinship with a Traveller, 13.8% will accept friendship with a Traveller, 8.3% will accept a Traveller living next door to them, 8% will accept a Traveller as a co-worker, 18% believe that Travellers should not have citizenship and 9% believe they should be deported. This is scary stuff and dealing with that level of prejudice against Travellers must be a major challenge to IHREC.

This chapter of the book, which is sizeable, shows how deep this problem is in our society and the challenge faced by IHREC in vindicating the equal rights of the Traveller community within our society. That is manifest in so many ways every day of the week. I would be interested in hearing the response of the witnesses from IHREC regarding the challenge generally. I applaud what IHREC has done with local authorities and I look forward to getting the final report. I hope it does not pull any punches because there has been a total failure by local authorities to fulfil their statutory obligation, namely, provide housing of its choice to the Traveller community. When I say of its choice, I mean choice by type. We have a major challenge here and I am interested in hearing the response of the witnesses from the IHREC.

Dr. McDonagh hit the nail on the head. We have all the reports we want. The shelves are full of them but we are not actually getting that much change. The only place where Fr. Mac Gréil noted there had been change was in south County Dublin where there was a proactive city manager a number of years ago. During his period of office, there was a measurable improvement in the indices, not only of housing but, funnily enough, of community relationships. This was picked up when Fr. Mac Gréil carried out the surveys.