Ivana Bacik (Independent)
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It is a very important practical point. I remember examining it before. It picks up on something in Dr. Mac Laughlin's paper on different phases of anti-Traveller racism. He points out that in the 1980s and 1990s legislation was introduced to tackle anti-Traveller racism. It strikes me this legislation named Travellers as a specific group and anti-Traveller discrimination is one of the nine grounds whereas ethnicity is a separate ground. At the time it was progressive legislation and Dr. Mac Laughlin marked this when tracking the development of the State's treatment of Travellers. It was also a fudge because ethnicity is one of the nine grounds of discrimination and would have encompassed anti-Traveller discrimination. As a practical point we must examine this. If the State were to recognise ethnicity of Travellers would we need this separate ground in the equal status and employment equality legislation?