Ms Maria Joyce:

On the last point, political leadership is key within that. We need political will and leadership if we are to see the necessary shift or change. While there have been some positive policy developments since the task force was set up in 1995, the delivery of services to Travellers still takes place within a very negative policy context. We have had an assimilation approach, but through segregation, which did not benefit Travellers. Where there is positive policy development, we need to see implementation. In the context of what Patrick was talking about, three specific pieces of legislation were introduced which had an adverse effect on Travellers. The trespass legislation that was introduced, for example, has never been used against anybody but Travellers.

Reference was made to the need to hold others to account for their failure to implement policies. Accountability in the context of Travellers and the implementation of positive policy developments has been in very short supply. We need to see accountability. Where Departments or State agencies have failed to deliver on key policies in areas like the environment or roads, responsibility has been taken from them. Local authorities have been stripped of their responsibilities in a number of areas because they were not delivering, but that has not happened in the context of Traveller accommodation. Not only have they failed to deliver, they have made the situation far worse in some areas.

Earlier we discussed third level education and the fact that adult Travellers cannot see themselves in third level education, but there is an onus on the State to address that. There are examples of third level institutions that have put measures in place to improve access for Travellers and to increase their participation. Some of these measures enable Travellers to enter third level as mature students, particularly Traveller women. While participation levels are nowhere near where they need to be, those third level institutions that have introduced specific Traveller related measures have had more success than others. Such measures need to be mirrored and captured. I would argue that it is the responsibility of third level institutions to play their part. The Higher Education Authority, for example, has an equality section and a gender section but the last two or three key strategic reports published by the authority did not mention Traveller women. In that context, what is needed is both institutional and systemic change.