Ms Sandra McDonagh:

I totally agree with Ms Joyce. As the committee probably knows, I am a social worker. I am one of the very few Traveller social workers in the country. There is a total mistrust when it comes to families engaging with social workers, particularly in relation to Tusla. Tusla would be recognised as just wanting to take children into care and that is where the mistrust is.

I am a mental health social worker. When I started there 13 years ago, at a team meeting in my local organisation the team were trying to come up with what they were going to call me. First, they did not want to use the term "social worker". Second, there was a huge stigma around mental health. They were coming up with all these weird and wonderful names. We eventually said that we needed to stop and, in the interests of breaking down the barriers and supporting the community, name it as it is. That has been a huge success. I was known as a "mental health social worker". Within a couple of years, the trust in the organisation got out into the community and people were banging on the door looking for support from their social worker. They were engaging with other services, stating that they had a social worker. It is changing. This is good in Offaly, where I work, but around the country there still is a huge stigma and mistrust within the services, unfortunately. There could be many more reasons for that. The first reason is children being taken into care, but I suppose the second reason is cultural competency and cultural awareness. I have seen it at first hand when working with other organisations and with Tusla. I would have many examples of bias and a lack of cultural awareness when it comes to Traveller children and working with Traveller families. There would be a number of reasons.