Ms Maria Joyce:

Can I add to that point? Getting past that with the supports that are in place in the Offaly Traveller Movement in terms of social work has been key in that area. The fear that is still there is not for fear's sake alone. It is a direct result of the system in terms of its historical context, but also in terms of its contemporary nature. Every child in the State has a right to be protected. We are not in any way arguing against that but when we look at the over-representation of Traveller children, we know from examples that you could ask if it was a welfare issue as opposed to a child protection issue, bearing in mind the higher levels of unemployment, the poorer socioeconomic backgrounds, the lack of accommodation and the disproportionate numbers of Travellers in homelessness. We still have hundreds of Traveller families living without basic services because local authorities are not implementing their accommodation programmes at the rate they need to, particularly when it comes to Traveller-specific accommodation.

We have overcrowded, substandard Traveller-specific accommodation as well. Social workers are coming in who are not coming from a culturally competent understanding of the culture with respect for diversity and there is bias, unconscious or otherwise. Let us be really frank and name it for what it is - underpinned by racism and systemic racism. Children are more at risk of being taken into care. We are not saying that families might not need some support, but if those supports were put in place and the agencies responsible for delivering supports and services did what they are supposed to do in the context of Traveller families, we would see less children from Traveller families in the care system. In the same way, we would see less young people from the Traveller community in Oberstown because we have over-representation there, as we have in the wider prison system.

We work with Traveller women in the Dóchas Centre. We are one of the organisations supporting Barnardos in relation to the supports for Traveller mothers in prison. They are looking at the issue of Traveller women in prison whose children are in care and trying to create connections back with their children and trying to support Traveller women while in prison and when they come out of prison to engage with social services and Tusla so that they will have more relationships with their children and have their children back in their homes.