Mr. Bernard Joyce:

To add to what Mr. Collins said, as a community we look at the richness, culture and arts but it is done in a completely different way. It is recognised by Travellers but it is not entirely recognised by everybody else. The community is very gifted in what its people touch and what they do between the music, arts and stories. There are so many people in the community. Given that we are enriched with this culture, recognition from 2017 has not gone far enough to embed that richness and culture in the broader society. Our community is asking how do we really ensure that our culture is safeguarded into the future. How do we really embed that? It is not just about funding but about the richness of that and for everyone to see what we see in the pride and the culture. The challenge is there is no drive or lead. Yes, there is the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy but I do not think we necessarily have to wait for all these strategies to be in place for someone to drive it. It should be happening and we need to see it being driven at a national level by the relevant Department and the Minister to ensure it is supported in a way that it should be.

The other side of that is that there can be a small ring-fenced budget which can just go to one project. We do not want to see that. We would like to see a national Traveller advisory forum comprised of local and national organisations working to support a deeper engagement with our community on arts, culture, strategies and plans, and on funding for Traveller-specific workers to be part of that. That is what we would like to see. We want to see ourselves in it, not see ourselves as recipients of it. We want to be embedded in it, be part of it and be part of the richness that we want to see. We are just not even close to that now. What we are talking about at the moment is anti-racism and the cultural competency of those who are in those areas. We are talking about the need to train and support them, whereas we should be supported as a community going into it. I hope that answers the question.