Malcolm Noonan (Green Party)

I welcome Mr. Herrick and Dr. Elliott here this afternoon. I apologise; I was probably the cause of the delay in starting the proceedings because we had the Taoiseach with us in the Seanad.

Since its inception, this committee has deliberated with many public Traveller rights organisations. In terms of the challenges we face, this is one of the strongest worded reports we have received. In marking the anniversary of the Carrickmines tragedy, as we did last week, ten years on, the discrimination against Traveller communities is as persistent, systemic and wide-ranging as ever. I know from my own experience through my work in our community with Traveller families that we are seeing very little progress. That is deeply upsetting for the Traveller families that I know, and for us all. It behoves us all as a State to once and for all start addressing the systemic discrimination, racism, accommodation and employment issues, etc., faced by Travellers.

An area of interest within the local Traveller accommodation consultative committee, LTACC, in my own county is the issue of the criminalisation of nomadism. This has been fundamental to many of the challenges Traveller families are facing. Where Traveller accommodation programmes are concerned, I do not think there is accommodation anywhere in the country that recognises the nomadic lifestyle of Travellers. There are families who like to travel during the summer and having temporary bays and sites they can visit is a huge challenge. I would welcome Mr. Herrick's views on how we can address that. It is certainly a local-level issue, but from what he has said, there are laws criminalising nomadism that are a real barrier to families being able to practise their cultural nomadic lifestyles.