Mr. Martin Collins:

I thank the Chair. I never thought I would be in the same space where members of our own community would be referring to each other as doctors and Senators in the same space at the same time. I think that is indicative of some of the progress that we have made over the last 30 or 40 years. As the Chair and indeed other contributors have rightly pointed out, there remains a lot of challenges and obstacles in terms of realising our full potential and having our rights fully vindicated by the Irish State.

Up to this point - and I have to be quite blunt - we have been failed by the State and by successive governments which have failed to address the institutional, structural and individual racism that Travellers experience in this society. We see the manifestations of that in terms of the low educational attainment, the high unemployment rate, and the health inequalities that other people have spoken about. I am sorry that I could not be here this morning as I had two prior commitments but I am sure these issues have been elaborated on.

I agree with Mr. Nevin and other speakers who talked about an apology and an acknowledgement of that oppression, colonisation, and persecution going back over centuries. I think it is actually much more than apology; I would call for a truth and reconciliation commission. Our story needs to be told and heard. That ongoing oppression, persecution, and our children being routinely taken into care and given to settlers as a way of getting rid of Traveller culture and identity needs to be acknowledged by the State. There can never be any healing unless the truth is acknowledged, that is, that truth that has been going on for hundreds of years.

I mention the racism that people spoke about and that Pancake spoke about. It is really appropriate that I call Dr. McDonagh Pancake in this setting as I feel very strongly about our nicknames, our cultural nuances and the attachments to nicknames in our community. She is right; there is a normalisation of that racism. When you listen to programmes like "Morning Ireland" or read the newspapers, they speak about it as if it was a new issue. That is an example of the racism we experience where we are actually denied that we experience racism, both at the individual and institutional level.

It is really important to be optimistic. While it is important that Senator Flynn has been nominated by the Taoiseach to the Seanad Éireann, and hopefully that trend will continue, we cannot rely on that alone. We need to be more politically organised and politically savvy. We need to encourage a lot more Travellers. I see Mr. Stokes here and Pancake stood for Seanad Éireann. We need to see a lot more Travellers standing as candidates in local, general and European elections and becoming members of different political parties, or indeed standing as Independents. That is what we need to be doing.

In addition of that, and linked to Senator Flynn's appointment, we also need to see a reserved seat for the Traveller community in our national Parliament. It has happened for other indigenous ethnic groups right across the globe, for example, the Sámi, the Roma in Romania, aboriginal people, and the Mari people. Precedents have been set and there is no reason we cannot have it here if there was political will to do it.

Finally, despite the hundreds and hundreds of years of colonisation and oppression, there is an inner strength and resilience that we have actually survived against all odds.

The fact we are here in this Chamber talking about our lived experience is a testament to that. We are strong, resilient people and I will finish with this little anecdote. I spoke to Patrick Nevin about this in the yard of Pavee Point not too long ago when we were having a bit of a chit-chat. My father passed away in 2010. He never went to school in his life. He could not read or write. In fact, he never had a watch on his wrist and could never tell the time. However, he was an extremely smart man and I learned more from my father than I did at school. I finished primary school in Finglas at 12 years of age. It was the norm back in the 1980s to not go on to higher education. Thankfully, things are changing. I used to go hawking - buying and selling - with my father and we would go door to door. We also did the markets and the fairs. My father, and a lot of Traveller men, always had this word, "boss". " How are you boss? How are you getting on today, boss?" when we would go to that house of a settler or into the farmer's yard trying to sell his wares and tears from the back of the van. I was growing up and wondering why he was calling the settlers "boss"? Was that a bit of internalised oppression to see settled people as being superior and we must aspire to that? I thought that for years and then one day we had a chat about it when I came of age and was able to have a chat with him. I asked him why he called them "boss"? What he said was very profound. He said he calls them boss because he is letting them think they are in control and smarter than him.