Mr. Denis Robinson:

I thank Senator Kelleher for encouraging me to make this presentation today. I will make a few non-specific points, referencing the submission I have made. I work with a community in Rathkeale that is made up of 80% Travellers and 20% mainstream settled community. It is an unusual dynamic compared to the rest of the country, as the minority are a settled group and the majority are of an ethnic minority group. I have encountered some insights in the past few months that I can now acknowledge.

It struck me that engagement between Travellers and State agencies is always a source of contention for people in the community. Members of the Traveller community are afraid they will lose benefits and feel they are not believed. There is a sense that they are always starting on the back foot when applying for social benefits which are rightfully theirs. There is a huge need for training of front-line staff to meet the specific needs of the Traveller community. A predecessor of mine, Mr. David Breen, did a lot of advocacy work for the community, and he said that when it came to accessing services or social welfare benefits, people were often refused their benefits automatically. Their applications would go through a review process where they were refused again, and would then go to a third independent appeals process, which was often the only successful appeal. While other people in the community applied for benefits, received them, and were entitled to them as was their right, members of the Traveller community generally had to go through three levels before they were even heard.

I again refer to the dynamics of the community in Rathkeale. When we are working there as a group, the issues that stand out are about who always has a say in that community, and who rarely or never has a say. None of the agencies or community groups within the town of Rathkeale has any Traveller representatives.

That raises huge questions which we have not fully addressed. I keep referring to the 80% to 85% of the community who are members of the Traveller community and who own approximately 80% to 90% of the property in the town. All decisions regarding the town are made independently of Travellers and are generally made against their wishes. This is a beautiful country market town that is predominantly owned by the community but when it comes to making structural decisions about the town this community has no access and no voice. That is disturbing.

There is some international evidence and research in the literature that refers to how trauma is carried by some ethnic groups across the world. There is again a sense of internalised rejection about which people and colleagues talk when I speak to them. They have a sense that they will not be accepted, allowed in, or listened to. That is a disturbing place to be. The recognition of ethnicity does not eradicate the trauma that some Travellers whom I have met encounter and feel.