Mr. Thomas McCann:

I will comment and then perhaps Mr. Collins can comment. The Senator is dead right about avoiding the structure, which needs to be addressed. Before I discuss cultural appropriateness, Traveller women are 22 times more likely to end up in prison than settled women. That gives an idea of where we are in terms of structural issues that need to be addressed. On cultural appropriateness, that is why I said "the community of stakeholders". It involves looking at how services are organised, developed, delivered and engage with the community at different levels. In 2006, A Vision for Change identified the need for culturally appropriate mental health services. In 2008, there was a HSE intercultural health strategy. Now, in Sharing the Vision and other strategies, there is a call for that again. It is not just for Travellers, by the way, but for other communities as well. We live in a multicultural society.

We need to develop culturally appropriate services. Part of that is making sure the service is anti-racist and there are proper structures and policies in place and oversight. It is the organisation's responsibility to make sure it is there for workers on the ground along with the support to implement it. It is not just the provider of services. I have a difficulty with term "hard to reach communities". It is "hard to reach services". From my perspective, the community is quite easy to reach. I engage with them every day. I am sure other people engage with their own communities every day. It is the services that are hard to reach. I have stopped using the term "hard to reach communities" because it creates a discourse that we are having a difficulty with that community.

The community is a stakeholder in developing the cultural appropriateness. On the law, the question that arises for me is: who does the law protect? Who makes the law? Earlier, there was a discussion about stop and search. I worked with Traveller men who were stopped 12 or 13 times a day because of their name and they were known in an area. If you look at all the laws that have been made, many do not protect the Traveller community. I am sure they do not protect disadvantaged working class people either.

We need to ask who the law is being made to protect.