Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One hundred per cent. It is up to the Government to hold the local authorities to account. That is the whole point. It is that accountability. One would be blue in the face hearing that it is okay because it is only the Travellers. There is nothing in place that will protect Travellers from the lack of implementation by the State, by local authorities.

We have seen politicians and Ministers who got elected on the back of anti-Traveller. Something important that was mentioned earlier was a campaign around racism and discrimination. I have been part of campaigns around Traveller racism and discrimination since I was very young and I am now 34 years of age. We have done enough campaigning around it. Now it is about, as Ms O'Shea said, the hate crime legislation to start off with and trying to break down those barriers and the casual racism that Travellers suffer from the State and from wider society. As someone who is in here as a member of the Traveller community, I have been looking at how can we hold the State to account where it is not acceptable not to drawdown the funding for Traveller accommodation and, most importantly, not to implement the recommendations that organisations and individuals within our community have worked on for many a decade. It is all well and good saying that it is the local authority, but it is the political will. It is all cross-over.

There is mental health, housing and education as well. I am meeting with the Minister, Deputy Foley, next Friday. I have been waiting three months for that meeting around the reduced timetables for Travellers in school to take place. There are many burning issues for which the answers are already there.

Cork Traveller Visibility Group has worked for decades on the answers, and so too has the National Traveller Women's Forum, Pavee Point and ITM. The list of organisations is as long as your arm. The answers are there but it is that accountability and implementation that this committee is looking for.

We could move on and talk about Travellers in the justice system, for example. That is something that we want to look at as a committee but we know that we cannot even touch on that until nearer the summer because there are so many recommendations that we are trying to push to be implemented. Why start something new when one has 84 recommendations that need to be pushed and implemented? That is what this committee does.