Ms Maria Joyce:

I thank the committee and An Leas-Chathaoirleach for the opportunity to speak at this committee today. As requested we will speak on the need to address the stigma, prejudice, discrimination, racism, social exclusion and identity erosion experienced by Travellers.

Traveller women are one of the most marginalised groups in Irish society and Traveller women’s experience of inequality, oppression and discrimination differs from that of the majority population or other minority groups. Traveller women's experience of racism and discrimination is different from that of Traveller men. The needs of Traveller women may not be met by the responses and strategies designed to confront and tackle gender inequality or ethnic discrimination alone. There also needs to be an examination of the intersection of ethnic disadvantage, discrimination and racism - as women and as Travellers - to ensure that the multiple forms of discrimination and racism are addressed.

As was said earlier, Traveller women have invested heavily of their time and their lives in building and supporting the Traveller infrastructure, in representational roles and in challenging agencies with regard to inequalities and Travellers. We also need to keep in mind the diversity within the community and the challenges this poses for some of our members - as referred to earlier - such as LGBTI Travellers and young Traveller women in particular, in attempting to negotiate their way around differing expectations and opportunities.

The recognition of Traveller ethnicity in 2017 was a very welcome development but this is still largely symbolic. We need to bring this to the next level to ensure it delivers real change for Travellers. For ethnic minority groups, expression of identity and pride in identity is an important feature in creating a sense of belonging to society. For the Traveller, ethnic recognition has always been about respect and inclusion. It is about recognising Traveller culture and acknowledging the valuable contributions Travellers have made and continue to make to Irish society. It was also about taking into account and addressing the inequalities Travellers experience. I will not detail the whole list of statistics -the committee heard them earlier - but they include significantly higher mortality rates and suicide rates that are six and seven times higher than the national average and which account for 11% of all Traveller deaths. The statistics also show an infant mortality rate three times higher than the national average. Unemployment rates are above 80%. There continues to be a significant gap between the participation and attainment of Traveller children in education compared with children from the majority population.

The identity erosion experienced by Travellers has particularly impacted on our young people leading to low self-esteem, poor self-image and a lack of pride in Traveller culture. It can also cause stress, shame and depression and can lead to drug and alcohol abuse and in some cases more severe mental health difficulties.

The extent of racism and discrimination against the Traveller community in Irish society is such that it is not uncommon for Travellers to make deliberate attempts to hide their identity, to deny their identity or to choose not to disclose it, especially when seeking employment. This has had a particularly negative impact on the opportunities and well-being of young Travellers trying to access and stay in employment. We would not have enough time today to talk about all of those examples. Our children do not have equality of access, participation and outcomes in education access. There needs to be visibility of positive affirmation of our culture within the schools so children can have a sense of belonging and being part of something.

In our submission the NTWF - among others - calls for a new national action plan against racism to be put in place with an oversight committee to include representation by key stakeholders such as Travellers. The evidence for this need is borne out in a range of studies and reports: 79.6% of settled people would be reluctant to purchase a house beside Travellers; 40% of respondents to an Economic and Social Research Institute survey in 2017 stated that they would be unwilling to employ a Traveller; more than 18% of respondents stated they would deny Irish citizenship to Travellers. The 2010 Traveller health study shows significant discrimination against Travellers in the health system, which the providers recognise and acknowledge. The census shows stark statistics: less than 1% of Travellers are in third level education and 81% of Traveller women are unemployed. Reference was made earlier to a study in 2016 by the Travellers in Prison Initiative. This study shows that Traveller women represented 22% of women in prison in 2016, out of 1% of the population. This is reflective of major inequality and racism.

Racism and discrimination experienced by Travellers is all too acceptable within Irish society and at institutional levels. In late 2018 we saw a presidential candidate who had been last in the polls coming second in the race, based on his racist and inflammatory comments about Travellers. We also see it in our Judiciary and in the political sphere and it largely goes unchallenged. This gives credence and acceptability for the really blatant and casual racism that happens at societal level in the denial of access to shops, to restaurants and to pubs, as experienced by Travellers in everyday life.

The negative attitudes, racism and stereotypes need to be comprehensively addressed with the introduction of appropriate hate crime legislation that would also govern new mediums such as social media platforms disseminating Traveller hatred and racism. Ms Brigid Carmody will speak about that experience in a Cork context, but we can be sure it is reflective of a national issue.

With regard to monitoring and implementation - I have given the case statistics - the accommodation situation of Travellers in Ireland is appalling and at crisis level. The State's own numbers say there have been 20 years of failed implementation with 585 families now living in unofficial, unrecognised and unserviced accommodation, which means without water and sanitation. More than 1,000 families are sharing accommodation and 15% of Travellers are homeless. In the midst of all of this the local authorities refuse to spend their budgets for Traveller accommodation. The homeless crisis is disproportionately impacting on Travellers. Traveller children are the highest percentage of homeless children in Dublin and Travellers are 22% more likely to become homeless. The introduction of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 - as amended by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2002 - gives increased powers for eviction of Travellers and it needs to be stopped. Evictions need to be stopped.

If the stigma, prejudice, discrimination and racism is to be eliminated within the State it needs to ensure that existing strategies and policy developed in consultation with Travellers are delivered. There needs to be appropriate monitoring, departmental oversight committees, and implementation plans including targets, indicators, timeframes and reinstatement of appropriate budgets including targeted measures.

I shall conclude. The committee will see from the information we have provided in our submission that an overwhelming lack of progress and implementation is a common theme across all areas of Traveller policy. Overall there are no accountability or sanctions for Departments and State agencies when they do not deliver on their own policy contents. The two most recent overarching strategies were published in 2017 - the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021, NTRIS, and the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020. The NTRIS strategy contains 149 actions across ten themes. There are, however, no implementation plans, targets, indicators, timeframes, or monitoring and special measures. Likewise, the national women's and girls' strategy does not have an implementation plan for the five actions contained within it for Traveller and Roma women. There needs to be an examination of all actions contained in the strategy to ensure they benefit the most marginalised women including Traveller women. In earlier sessions of this committee, and from the NTWF submission, members will have heard that Traveller women are invisible in mainstream gender policies, reports and quotas. The target of 40% gender quotas on State boards has been reached with regard to women. There is no visibility of Traveller women within that. Breaking through the glass ceiling on gender equality is even further out of the reach of Traveller women than it is for other women in Ireland.

Having even their basic human rights realised is so far from where we are that it needs to be addressed. Ms Minnie Connors spoke passionately about her situation, which was very telling of the experiences of many Traveller women. We should not have do that in this day and age with all the evidence and strategies with regard to the conditions in which Travellers and Traveller women live. It should not come to having to share this level of personal experience to have these issues addressed.