Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their contributions. I found them to be interesting. There is much food for thought. One of the big problems, based on the comments of Ms Joyce, is the follow-up services and having a proper case worker following this up. That applies whether it is in the prison itself, as people may not be engaging properly for different reasons, but especially when they get out. It is about how can we tie them into some services. Does Pavee Point have a role in dealing with that or directing a lot of these people coming outside, because that is always going to be very hard?

The other thing I found interesting was racism within prison. We know there is racism outside prison but by God it must be an awful lot worse in prison. Therefore the complaints procedure, as was said, needs to be much more robust. It needs to be looked at and acts of racism need to be recorded so we get a picture of how bad it is. That is not just for Travellers but for everyone, though we especially need to get a picture of how that plays out. I think it was said that by 2021 there would be more done to address that issue and I would like to hear a bit more about that. The media and especially Facebook can be awful. We have seen how much damage they can do. We have seen the way much of the media portrays Travellers but then when one reads some of the stuff put up on Facebook, it is absolutely appalling.

I was wondering about education. Are we getting people to tie in fairly well in education, particularly in prison? Are they tying in to the services that are available there or are we struggling there?

Are Travellers kept together as much as possible in prison or is it a case of them generally being mixed into the prison population? Is it a policy to try to keep people within their own community close to each other? I would like to hear a bit more about that.

The mental health issue is obviously a major problem.

I presume that we have psychiatrists who attend to people with serious mental health issues. I would love to know how much they engage. Are we fairly active in looking at this? As the witnesses noted, suicide is a major problem in society in general but is far higher in the Traveller community. Therefore, I would love to see plenty of engagement with mental health workers in that regard.

It is bad enough being in prison. How do we deal with Travellers with disabilities in prison? Are there case workers or people who specialise in looking after those with disabilities?