Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like Deputy Mac Lochlainn I was not aware a consultation process on the issue of Traveller ethnicity was ongoing. It is an issue that merits deep consideration and debate. We are all concerned for genuine Travellers who find themselves in difficult situations. Unfortunately, however, there is an abuse of the term "Traveller" and all that goes with it. This is happening in my constituency around the town of Rathkeale. Many people engaged in blatant criminality use it as a flag of convenience behind which to hide.

Perhaps the Minister of State would ask officials to provide Deputy Mac Lochlainn and I with a briefing on the matter. There is also a need for full-scale discussion of this issue in the House. It affects not only genuine members of the Traveller community but the wider public in terms of the activities in which the people who claim to be Travellers are engaged.

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