Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not have anything prepared because I really came to show solidarity. I am the Sinn Féin TD for the Kildare North constituency. I am not only the TD for Kildare North, but also the special driver for our local election candidate, James Stokes, who is in the Gallery. I brought him in this morning and I will bring him home this evening. I have an important job, on top of being a TD.

I am delighted to see Rose Marie Maughan here. I have always said that any time I listen to her on a podcast, I stop. I was finishing up a few things in my office just now and I saw her come up on the screen so I listened. What she has to say gets rights to the point. She always does. She has that special gift. I thank her for using her voice on behalf of her people, women, women Travellers and mothers of Traveller children. It is great to hear her. I do not want to speak for too long because this is about giving Travellers the floor.

I am just here to say that I heard most of the speakers today and Sinn Féin in Kildare is delighted to have a Traveller standing for the local elections. I was a member of the local Traveller accommodation consultative committee, LTACC, in Kildare County Council. It was a proactive committee. It was all women. Five women were on the committee, comprising three Sinn Féin representatives and two Labour Party representatives. We were a good left-wing group and we did our best. I remember talking to Kildare County Council because Travellers would often come to the Curragh and all the local representatives would give out about the mess they would leave behind. As a member of the LTACC, I asked why there was no special designated area in the Curragh. The Curragh is huge. There is plenty of room to have a designated area for Travellers. If we recognise Traveller ethnicity, we have to recognise all their ethnicity. There is a hint in the name "Traveller". Travellers like travelling. There should be a seasonal space in the Curragh where people can come and stay and have showers, running water and sanitary facilities and so on. I got awful pushback and it was said to me - in private so I will not say who it was - that if Kildare did that, all the Travellers would come from all over the country. I said they would not do so if every county did it. That would be a good idea. There should be an area so that during good periods of weather in order that Travellers can stay in touch with that aspect of their ethnicity.

It is great to see Ms Latisha McCrudden here as well. I have met her a few times. It is great to see young people and women doing well. No offence to all the men who have been experts for so many years. It is great to see women Traveller activists speaking out. When you sort things out for women, you sort things out for everyone because women will not forget their children whether they are boys are girls. They will make sure things are right for all of them. That is all I will say because today is about giving Travellers the floor.