Ms RoseMarie Maughan:

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I first congratulate her and let her know how deeply proud Irish Travellers are of her. We would not be here today if not for her. I acknowledge that fact, and the Trojan work she is doing both on behalf of, and with, all marginalised communities. Many Irish Travellers have expressed how important today is. Almost 20 Irish Travellers are speaking quite capably on their own issues and bringing to the floor of the Seanad Chamber their own recommendations and solutions, which they have been speaking about for decades. It is an important day, but the reality is that when we walk out of the Chamber we will still face institutional racism, discrimination and oppression as Irish Travellers. En route this morning in a taxi, Ms McCrudden, Ms Emma Ward, Ms Samantha Joyce and I were all excited about getting the opportunity as Irish Travellers to speak to our own issues and our own lives. We got into the taxi and were asked where were headed. We said we were going to the Seanad and were asked what we were talking about. When we answered that we would be speaking on Traveller rights we felt the ice-cold sentiment in that taxi as soon as we said that. We were next asked what we would be talking about. We said we would be talking about the fact that we have been surviving cultural genocide and assimilation attempts since the foundation of the Irish Free State. We were told there was no need to bring big words into it and asked whether we would talk about the ones giving us a bad name. This is the lived reality we deal with. We have to be held accountable for individuals in our community whom we do not even know and who are used by non-Travellers to justify their ill -treatment and racism towards us. We can never get any closer to the realisation of Irish Traveller rights until we receive an official State apology for the 1963 commission report about us, without us. That set the tone for our lived reality for decades following. It set the tone for our lived intergenerational trauma. That has to be said. It has not been said yet today, and I thought it was important to name it. I know I have gone off track from the topic of employment, but it is closely interlinked.

There were 22 recommendations on employment in the final report of the Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community. There has been progress, but it has been slow and it seems only 11 of the recommendations are in the early stages of development.

To date, no systematic understanding has been applied to redress Traveller’s social inequalities, including in employment. The absence of data and a coherent Government approach to inform mainstream investments and strategies has worsened outcomes. The programme for Government 2020 commitment to a Traveller and Roma training, employment and enterprise plan was a positive and welcome step, but, sadly, it has yet to materialise. A multilevel, integrated approach involving the education and training sector is critical to redress intergenerational poverty and exclusion arising from long-term community unemployment - I would say the forced long-term unemployment within our community.

In 2022, unemployment in Ireland was 8%, but it was 61% for Travellers. This was 20% below the 2016 rate, but comparatively, still alarmingly high. A concerning statistic is the number of Travellers who are unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability. Seven employment actions linked to the NTRIS are under the Department of Social Protection, but pace and a centralised lead are needed for the next inclusion strategy. There is an acceptance of the need for a national Traveller and Roma employment strategy, including to mainstream employment across all facets of the public service, with targets laid out for all relevant agencies. National employment policies, for example, the Pathways to Work 2020-2025, make commitments to Travellers but there is little evidence of progress leading to change. There is also an overreliance on funded initiatives through NTRIS to make progress in Traveller employment, putting the responsibility, once again, back on the Traveller organisations to resolve the issue without the resources to do so.

Traveller participation in the labour market is marked by stigma and discrimination in recruitment, both direct and indirect. Travellers are ten times more likely than white Irish settled people to experience discrimination in seeking work. Decades of inaction have resulted in limited work opportunities or self-employment and, therefore, dependency on social welfare. Many Travellers who do secure employment, often do so by having to sell our souls, our very existence, by pretending we are non-Traveller. No one should have to deny the fact they were born an Irish Traveller just to be given the opportunity to have a job and a PAYE wage. We should not have to pretend to be something we are not just to be afforded the right to have a job.

When we talk about Mr. McCann's input on mental health, can the committee try to imagine the impact of what this experience does to young Travellers? Right from preschool, we are told we are not good enough, we will never achieve anything, there is no belief in us and we should look at everybody that came before us. The internalisation of this experience is soul-destroying. Nobody talks enough about it, but society needs to hear this and hear it well because being treated like this is soul-destroying and breaks your character as a human. I will repeat that it breaks your character as a human. You have to put yourself back together. This is why we do have a mental health crisis and why our children are now dying by suicide.

Mr. McCann alluded to the fact that the time for change is now. The time for change was decades ago, but we are here now and we are hopeful we will get the change that we need. I say this because I am hearing the commitment, the passion and the political will to bring this about and that we have allies in this space along with our amazing Senator. I believe the change is here and we are here with you to be part of that change. I know the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has left the room, but I would welcome hearing her comments in this regard, as well her working with us in safeguarding Traveller culture because it is not just about celebrating it, but about trying to keep it alive. We have been surviving cultural genocide and we need to keep naming this for what it is. The national Traveller organisations would be more than welcome to link in with the Minister in the near future to see how we can work alongside her to ensure this happens.

Current education policy and practice has not been successful in significantly improving Traveller access, progression and retention in post-primary and further and higher education as a pathway into employment. In 2017, of six in ten Travellers surveyed who undertook training schemes, with an average rate of two to three schemes, only three in ten gained employment. The absence of Traveller employment data fails both the system, the community and society in general. Without the data, we cannot measure the uptake of the Government's own positive initiatives. Examples include the work placement experience programme, targeted at young jobseekers facing significant barriers to employment, including young Travellers, or the progression routes to appropriate further education, training and employment supports offered by Intreo. In all these initiatives, there is no monitoring of outcomes for Travellers.

Traveller women face additional challenges and barriers in accessing training and employment, often rooted in societal prejudices, cultural factors and economic disparities, as well as the juggle involved in being a mother. Travel women are also mothers. We know Irish society has advanced women's rights, and rightly so. We have done so much and we have come a long way. Unfortunately, however, when we talk about glass ceilings, Irish Traveller women do not have to break through just a glass ceiling but through reinforced steel ceilings. When doing so, this needs to be celebrated and encouraged more. Young Traveller women need to be afforded opportunities and investment in young Traveller women should not be a struggle all the time. This is especially the case when we have the strategies and the solutions, yet they go unimplemented year after year while we as Travellers are paying with our lives.

Entrepreneurship presents a pathway to economic empowerment, yet Travellers encounter barriers in establishing and sustaining businesses. Financial constraints, including the fear of a loss of benefits, and access to business development resources and information, pose challenges for Traveller entrepreneurs. I will comment, though, on what we have found that works. Pockets of good practice are evident locally in the creation of social enterprises and employment, but these are few. In 2023, the Traveller apprenticeship incentivisation programme, led by the Irish Traveller Movement, was launched and is supporting Travellers to access and retain apprenticeships. To date, there have been almost 200 expressions of interest, and these have led to 47 Travellers receiving bursaries.

We have, however, noted challenges. One is finding employers willing to employ Travellers. The second concerns appropriate support for umbrella and representative bodies to fully support and promote the initiative. The third is supporting Traveller women to take up apprenticeships. The fourth challenge relates again to the fact that Irish Travellers have been forced into and stuck in the poverty trap for decades and generations. This is not going to be an easy situation to unpick. Investment and time are needed to address it. We as a community must also be nurtured and supported out of this poverty trap. The fifth challenge relates to providing access to a greater number of locations for pre-apprenticeships in the ETB sector and to apprenticeships in TUS training courses. To have a real impact, though, and to bring about meaningful change for Travellers on the ground, the programme needs to be core funded and further developed to have a greater reach and impact.

In short, then, what is needed? A national innovative strategy is required to mainstream Traveller employment across all facets of the public service, with implementation plans, KPIs and monitoring and evaluation processes laid out for all relevant agencies, along with a multilevel, cross-departmental action plan with ring-fenced investment. Along with this, there must be a peer-led comprehensive assessment of need and a skills audit to determine the current community status in employment needs and experience to inform the much-needed national Traveller employment strategy. Public sector-wide cultural competency and anti-racism training should be instituted for all staff, especially those working in employment activation and support. Government-funded bodies should be required to develop strategies that increase diversity. There should be employer research and both a sectoral and public education plan to combat attitudes and prejudice towards Travellers contributing to exclusion. Traveller recruitment to the public sector should be expedited, with targets identified and a review of the minimum entry requirements. Progress has not been made in this regard, despite plans being in place. Ethnic identifiers should be introduced across public services as necessary, and equality budgeting strategy. With the launch of NTRIS 2 imminent, it is essential that the strategy is adequately funded with ring-fenced budgets, departmental leads and ministerial oversight across the actions under each Department. We cannot afford to have one more NTRIS plan that goes unimplemented. This is because we are way beyond crisis point when our children are opting out by suicide. I hope the committee really hears the urgent need and that children's lives matter. I thank the committee.