Mr. Patrick Reilly:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for giving us this opportunity to address it on the issues relating to unemployment. The committee members have received a copy of our detailed submission.

I do not intend to cover the full submission in my opening statement. I will instead give a brief overview.

In November, the committee heard testimony from Traveller and Roma representatives about the experience of our communities in accessing, participating in and delivering good outcomes from education. Today's discussion is focused on employment, but educational disadvantage and poor levels of educational attainment are key factors in the significant employment gap between Travellers and Roma and the majority population. Therefore, dealing with unemployment in our communities must occur in parallel with targeted and mainstream measures to address educational inequalities.

Data from the 2016 census show an unemployment rate among Travellers of 80% compared with 13% among the majority. Data from the national Roma needs assessment indicated that approximately 17% of Roma respondents were in employment. Traveller and Roma participation in employment is hampered by a range of barriers. The key barriers are: low levels of educational attainment at all levels compared with the majority population; high levels of reported discrimination in accessing education, employment and key supports and services; failure by statutory stakeholders to accommodate cultural differences; and high levels of social exclusion and socioeconomic disadvantage, which hinder access to education, training and employment networks and opportunities. There are additional barriers for the Roma community: lack of access to State supports and benefits, where Roma find it difficult to meet the habitual residence condition or where they cannot provide proof of residence; and low levels of proficiency in the English language and, for some, low levels of literacy and numeracy in their language of origin.

The barriers facing Travellers and Roma in accessing and participating in employment suggest the need for sustained and targeted measures involving action from a number of stakeholders across the statutory, NGO and private sectors. The stakeholders involved in the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy have a key role to play in supporting any such initiative.

We would like to bring the committee's attention to a number of areas and forthcoming opportunities that hold the potential to improve Traveller and Roma participation in employment and further education and training. However, this will require commitment on the part of the State to increase its ambition to secure good outcomes for our communities in the area of employment.

The forthcoming Pathways to Work - the new job strategy - is being prepared by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Since there is almost full employment in the State, there is an opportunity to focus the new jobs strategy towards a stated principle of active inclusion. Pavee Point has made a number of recommendations to the Department in respect of the strategy. These are set out in our submission and include the following: the strategy should set out a number of targeted actions and mainstream approaches aimed at increasing the quality of Traveller and Roma engagement with and outcomes from the public employment service delivered through Intreo centres; targeted initiatives could be developed to support Traveller and Roma enterprise in conjunction with local enterprise offices, LEOs; an increase in Traveller and Roma participation in apprenticeships in conjunction with employers, SOLAS and education and training boards, ETBs; and the development of targeted training and employment pathways through the social inclusion and community activation programme, local employment services and mainstream employment services.

SOLAS is preparing a new national further education and training strategy. SOLAS funds the 16 ETBs around the country. These are key providers of training and further education to early school leavers and marginalised communities, including members of the Traveller community. Pavee Point has made a number of recommendations to SOLAS regarding this strategy. Specific targeted measures by providers are required to address the diversity of needs within the Traveller and Roma community. For example, apprenticeships and training should be tailored to respond to and take advantage of the potential in the cultural practices and economic nature evident in the Traveller community, such as apprenticeships and training in the equine industry, tinsmithing and recycling. Career guidance models that are culturally sensitive, with access to specific learning pathways that include positive action measures to address the needs of Travellers and achieve an acceleration of their learning pathways, should be developed.

SOLAS could usefully develop and pilot a pair model of further education training and support based on the successful Traveller primary healthcare project developed by Pavee Point.

The public sector equality and human rights duty is an important part of equality and human rights legislation. The duty requires public bodies, including Departments, to take proactive steps to promote equality and human rights and prevent discrimination. This duty could be an important means of driving greater equality in how our public services are designed and delivered. Key public services providers in the areas of employment, education and training, accommodation and health have enormous potential to reduce inequalities in society. There is an onus on such public sector bodies to therefore discharge on their obligations under their public sector duty.

There are three areas where positive outcomes for Travellers and Roma could be driven. Our submission contains more detail than I can cover in my opening statement. I thank the committee for its attention and I am happy to answer any questions that I can.