Professor Amanda Haynes:

The first recommendation is to introduce an ethnic identifier throughout the criminal process. Equality data is essential to tracking disparities in how groups are treated in the criminal justice system, promoting fair treatment through accountability and developing remedial policy and procedures. In the absence of official equality data, both the Garda Commissioner and representatives of the State have denied findings of both ITAJ and EU Fundamental Rights Agency, EUFRA, research that speak to the existence of racial discrimination against Travellers in the criminal justice system.

At a meeting of the Policing Authority on 30 June 2022, the Garda Commissioner responded to questions about the racial profiling of Travellers prompted by the ITAJ research by stating:

I don’t believe we do undertake racial profiling ... Racial profiling is a very serious allegation to level against An Garda Síochána and before I would accept that I would want to be certain on the reasons why I was accepting that allegation.

A month later, at the 92nd session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a representative of the State responded to a similar question by stating:

There have been questions of racial profiling. Racial profiling is not a feature of policing in Ireland. It's not compatible with the human rights obligations of An Garda Síochána, but there have been tensions between particular communities and the guards.

The second recommendation is for the development of a criminal justice strategy for the Traveller community. The Department of Justice Statement of Strategy 2024-2026, published this year, omits any reference to Travellers, Traveller ethnicity, ethnicity, racial profiling or racism and sees access to justice being operationalised through a “faster, more effective justice system”. In her foreword, the Minister states, “we will uphold the fundamental right to fair and equal access for all”, but there are no objectives or outcomes linked to this other than a reference to improving access to “vulnerable users”.

The National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy II 2024-2028, in contrast, summarises findings of the Irish Travellers Access to Justice Research and of the 2019 EUFRA Traveller and Roma Survey with respect to ethnic profiling and acknowledges the need to address the over-representation of Travellers in prison and low levels of trust in An Garda Síochána. The associated actions include many important recommendations, including with respect to diversion and alternatives to prison. They do not, however, address themselves to policing practice or to the courts. We assert that actions to achieve equal treatment by criminal justice agencies must include interventions addressed to the operation of criminal justice agencies.

The third key recommendation was to develop a robust and independent complaints mechanism operating across the criminal justice system. There have been significant changes to complaints mechanisms with respect to both police and courts since the publication of the ITAJ recommendations. The impending launch of Fiosrú, the new GSOC, is very welcome. The Garda Ombudsman’s office has already evidenced a commitment to engaging with the Traveller community and requested a presentation to its caseworkers on the ITAJ research. The particularly low levels of trust, literacy and digital literacy, as well as particular experiences of racial profiling and exceptionally high rates of searches of the home, necessitate a bespoke approach to the needs of this community. We hope Fiosrú will consider these matters in developing its public awareness functions and in developing the accessibility of its complaints mechanisms. Since the publication of the ITAJ research, a mechanism has been established by which a complaint can be made regarding judicial misconduct. This is also a very welcome development. As in the case of Fiosrú, it is important that the complaints mechanism is publicised and functionally accessible to the Traveller community.

With respect to accountability and transparency, we are concerned that neither the police nor the judicial complaints mechanisms produce any equality data with respect to the identity of complainants or the treatment or outcome of their complaints. Equally, we are concerned that neither process meets human rights standards of being independent institutionally, hierarchically and in practice. A key reason Travellers do not complain is the fear of retaliation from those who are the subject of the complaint. We suggest that processes be urgently put in place to address this issue.

We ask the committee to, first, reject the normalising of Travellers’ over-representation in the prison system and to understand it, not as an inevitability, but as an outcome of systemic racism including in the criminal process; second, acknowledge the need for equality data to address disparities in treatment and to build trust in the criminal justice system; third, advocate for fully independent complaints mechanisms that are functionally and universally accessible, as well as trustworthy to users; and, finally, recognise the urgency of State action to disrupt the pipeline to prison. We thank the committee.