David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank again our guests for their time and work. Have they engaged with organisations like the Irish Association for the Social Integration of Offenders, IASIO, or Care After Prison? The name "Care After Prison" speaks for itself. The organisation helps people to get accommodation, jobs and supports when they leave prison. There are a large number of young Travellers in prison at the moment. At one stage, I heard that Travellers account for 400 of the 4,000 people in prison, which is a significant percentage given the number of Travellers in the population. It might be helpful to suggest that if the organisations represented today have not done engaged with IASIO and Care After Prison, they do so now because these organisations work on the ground with Travellers before they leave prison. Very often people who leave prison without proper support end up homeless or in situations that lead to them returning to prison and the circle goes around. IASIO and Care After Prison are two impressive organisations but there may be others.

On the issue of horses, I draw witnesses' attention to the stables for horses built by the Irish Prison Service outside Castlerea Prison to train Traveller and other prisoners in horse skills such as farrier skills. Once trained, they could leave prison and get jobs in that industry. The initiative has proven successful. Jonathan Irwin and others supported it at the time and a lot of money was raised to make the project happen. I draw attention to the initiative to emphasise the Vice Chairman's point about the importance of horses. The witnesses may not be aware of the project, which could give rise to synergies or learnings.

We all know that proposals to establish halting sites or house Travellers in some areas gives rise to a lot of concern among people who live in the areas. Has work been done with respect to public opinion? Councillors and others come under an awful pressure if there are proposals from local authorities. This issue is the elephant in the room and we do not talk about it. Are their plans to influence public opinion or drill down into this issue, for which "discrimination" is another word? I believe it impacts on the provision of housing across the country. I look forward to responses to those questions. I apologise for contributing a second time.