Ms Brigid Quilligan:

I will respond first, after which my colleague, Ms Fay, will, if necessary, provide information of a more legal nature. Senators may wish to ask further questions if they require more information.

On Senator Cummins's question as to what would be our recommendations, the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality has made concrete recommendations with which we concur. This would only require the Taoiseach or Minister for Justice and Equality to make a statement in the Dáil formally recognising the ethnicity of Travellers. There is nothing to prevent either of them from making such a statement tomorrow if they so wished as no legislative change would be required. We strongly encourage either the Taoiseach or the Minister to make such a statement.

Our second recommendation would be to consult the national Traveller organisations, Travellers and relevant stakeholders on how to progress and roll out the recognition of Traveller ethnicity, identify what would be the implications and ascertain how best we could use available resources to make a strong impact.

The third step would be to inform international human rights bodies that Ireland had taken this step. This would give a strong statement abroad that Ireland values its human rights track record and the human rights of one of its oldest indigenous minority groups.

Senator Paul Coghlan asked about the origins of Travellers and the idea of Traveller ethnicity.

As far back as we can recall, we have been people who were nomadic with no literacy skills, so our history, like that of many indigenous and nomadic peoples, was an oral history and is an oral history. Our history is passed down from generation to generation. We think any recollection of our history was done maybe by monks or other religious people. Like a lot of Irish history, that history was destroyed and very little of that before maybe the 1700s exists today. However, we know that passed down from generation to generation is a story that is contrary to the popular belief that we are people who were made homeless during the Famine times, which is not true. We were people who were nomadic for centuries. We have our own language. We have our own customs and way of life, which while similar to those of the Irish people of the time were still different. Some of our names are very different from other Irish people's names. Our history within our own families is very different.

There is evidence from different programmes that were done, for instance, blood of the Travellers, to show that Travellers have different DNA, at least tracing back for 1,500 years. More research needs to be done into that in terms of identifying where we originated. However, we know at least 1,500 years ago we were still a distinct separate group.

We have many real examples of racism. I will speak about some discrimination I have encountered myself in terms of access to goods and services. I live in Killarney and if I walk down Killarney town, I am instantly known as a Traveller. If I seek to get a cup of coffee in some establishments or go for a drink - even though I am a teetotaller - in some establishments, I could be refused access to those pubs, clubs or cafés. They could simply tell me: "Regulars only or nobody here tonight."

If I want to book a children's party for my son and if they hear my name, they will tell me the venue is booked. If I want to get my son into a particular summer camp and if they do not like my surname, they could tell me it is booked, and yet my friend with a different surname can go back afterwards and book a place for her son in it. In terms of access to accommodation, Travellers throughout the country are finding it increasingly difficult to get private rented accommodation when they are known as Travellers. Landlords will not rent to them. That is just based on maybe some landlords' experiences with some Travellers, but not with all.

In terms of the education system, going back many years Travellers, colleagues of mine, when they went into school - even my own experience of my very early education, although I have to put on record that I had a very good experience in school - were put into segregated education. Some Travellers were taken from their homes in the morning in buses, brought into school, showered, changed in communal baths regardless of whether they were boys or girls and put into a segregated classroom. That was their experience of education.

Looking online shows how we are discriminated against. A simple Google search of "Travellers" will show people talking about Travellers as if we are all criminals, people calling for us to be killed, calling for women to be raped and calling for children to be shot. I encourage those present when they go home today to do a Google search of "Travellers" and see what comes up.

Even being on a train or wherever, one will hear many derogatory comments about Travellers and we constantly have to justify ourselves. We do not enjoy the same rights as anybody else in Ireland. This gentleman over here spoke about the jobs market. If I went with my surname with all my qualifications and skills and applied for even a job in Dunnes Stores or any kind of mid-level job, I would probably not get past the interview process because people would see my name and I would be discriminated against. That is an experience I can speak to of myself.