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

I would like to clarify what I said. In no way did I say individual Travellers should not have access to legal services or that I would not help them to access legal services. I am saying they should not have to do so in many cases. I am helping people every day. The hierarchy of procedures, which would normally involve making an application, getting refused, taking a review, appealing, going to the Ombudsman and then going to the courts, is a hell of a hierarchy for anybody to jump. Let us be honest about this. It is much easier for those with many resources to jump that than it is for those with few resources.

I can tell Ms Lucey from dealing with Travellers on the ground, no more than dealing with ordinary people, such as small farmers and many other people I deal with, that they are intimidated by having to go through that process and that a lot of them will baulk at doing it. I am delighted that so many are contacting the legal service but they should not have to do so to secure a basic right. There are many more who are in as bad a situation who, no matter what encouragement they get, find that whole process to be beyond where they can go because they need a solution now and not in three or four years' time, which is what is involved when you start going through all of that process. I guarantee that.