Ms Jacinta Brack:

The first priority for the commission would be around trying to insert, in this case Travellers, as a protected group within the new codes. It has been proven that because Travellers were not named and identified under BAI's previous codes that this reporting could remain as before, which had caused great offence in the community. The lack of monitoring is a problem there. That links to Senator Hoey's question about this element of monitoring. Representative organisations might be encouraged to monitor if resourced to do so, which they are currently not. However, the context is wider than that. It has to be imbedded within the regulatory function of the commission itself. It would be hard to distinguish and to be able to take either by sanctions or for organisations to take complaints unless the element of monitoring was happening at that level. One of the first priorities would be to identify Travellers within the codes. I would include other groups in that as well. There has to be a ring-fencing or naming within the codes to ensure that safety guard is there.

The other part of establishing something quickly would be the establishment of the implementation group to take action around these other advisory committees. The Irish Traveller Movement is represented in that sector as well. Another NGO is also included in that. I would question why it is not wider than our two organisations as NGOs because there are up to 20 media organisations on that. While I acknowledge the fact that advisory boards are intended to take shape throughout the wider media services sector, there is probably a lack of inclusion at the first point of the establishment of those other advisory committees. Those two areas would be particularly important. The whole element of data, which we did not really get to today, is central to establish a whole range of things, whether that be collecting information in order that we identify need. That could be linked to the monitoring element. Data is important also to justify the progress across the various different actions. I can see from the report that this is due to start in 2020 and, therefore, our call would be for that to be expedited.