Mr. John Paul Collins:

I thank the Chair and members of the committee. Pavee Point welcomes the opportunity to make a presentation today, and to highlight key issues relating to Travellers. As a drug and alcohol worker, I will highlight some issues and recommendations and then we will hear from Ms Annmarie Sweeney, a Traveller woman in recovery. Given the limited time today, we will focus specifically on Travellers but encourage the committee to include the Roma community in discussions, and we would be happy to present to the committee at a later stage.

The All-Ireland Traveller Health Study in 2010 reported that almost seven out of ten of Travellers considered drugs to be a problem within the community and this was for both men and women across all ages. The study also noted that drug abuse was understood as a major health threat to Travellers, particularly Traveller men. It was also noted the problem was getting worse and exacerbated by poor living conditions, poor educational outcomes and employment opportunities and racism and discrimination to the core. Fifteen years on, the situation has gotten worse. In my almost 30 years of working in this area, I can honestly say that there is not one Traveller family in this country who has not been touched in some way by drug addiction.

This is an issue for Traveller women, Traveller men and Traveller children, who are all witnessing what we can only describe as an epidemic. While we know this is an issue in the general population, the experience of Travellers is acutely felt and informed by systemic racism which creates the conditions for inequality of access, participation and outcomes as related to drug policy and services. There is a need for this to be urgently addressed at policy level and we welcome progress in relation to the next national drugs strategy. However, is important that in the development of the strategy, the Department of Health reflects on lessons from the previous strategy. It must be inclusive, evidence-based and properly resourced to address the disproportionate impact of addiction on Travellers and other marginalised groups.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the devastating impact of addiction on Travellers, we continue to remain invisible in mainstream drug and alcohol policies. We are particularly concerned that the community sector, including Traveller organisations, has not been directly involved in or invited to be part of the overall steering group appointed to oversee the development of the new strategy. This is the first time in almost 30 years, to my knowledge, that this has happened and we see it as a backward step. How can the Department talk about co-design and partnership working when key stakeholders - those representing communities and who have a collective analysis and expertise - are not at the table? It is also very important to acknowledge some of the positive developments over the past number of years. In particular, the work of those in the drug and alcohol sector and the HSE is innovative, impactful and shows outcomes. These models should be further developed, resourced and mainstreamed.

We understand the committee is assessing the information from the citizens’ assembly and the previous interim report by the first committee to create a work programme. We want to reinforce the recommendations made to the previous committee and at the citizens' assembly. These are the full implementation and resourcing of the National Traveller Health Action Plan, which was launched in 2022, with increased core investment for Traveller organisations to support targeted measures related to substance misuse and addiction; ensuring meaningful and direct participation of the community sector, including Traveller organisations, in the national drugs strategy steering committee in line with the agreed policy, Values and Principles for Collaboration and Partnership: Working with the Community and Voluntary Sector; the prioritising and mainstreaming of Traveller and Roma health inequalities, including addiction, within the Department of Health and across the HSE into existing and forthcoming health policy and service developments; the provision of a social determinant of health response to addiction that is culturally appropriate in partnership with Traveller organisations, underpinned by a community development approach, including mandated anti-racism training, inclusive of anti-Traveller and anti-Roma racism, to all relevant agencies; and the implementation of ethnic equality monitoring, including a standardised ethnic identifier across all health administrative systems, including drugs services, to inform evidence-based policies and services and ensuring the reporting of disaggregated data based on ethnicity and gender at a minimum is part of the ongoing and annual reporting requirements set out by the Department and the HSE.

We believe that if these recommendations are put into action, key issues can be addressed and we will not be here at another Oireachtas committee rehashing the same old concerns. I will hand over to Ms Sweeney.