Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I think I am sharing with Deputy Mick Wallace, but if he does not turn up, I will soldier on regardless.

The merging of the two bodies is important. This gives us an important opportunity to focus on how this country can promote human rights and equality, which is critical, but we have to take a step back in that regard. Talking about equality is welcome, but we need to have the resources to back it up.

I will begin by referring to rights and supports for people with disabilities. We have seen many references to this issue on paper, while, simultaneously, decisions are being made in the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Education and Skills and so on which adversely impact on the lives of disabled citizens and prevent them from having an equal stake in society. I will give two examples, the first of which is the Gateway scheme which is a slave labour, chain gang type facility to make up for the fact that local authority jobs are being eroded. Thousands have been lost in the past few years. Traditionally, local authorities provided for and held a substantial number of positions for people with disabilities, members of the Traveller community and so on, people in our society who would otherwise be discriminated against, to give them an equal opportunity. As a result of jobs no longer being available in local authorities, people are unable to access their right to employment. That is a substantial step back.

I am aware that many disabled citizens who rely on personal assistance have seen their hours cut and not replaced. That is reprehensible. It is all very well to talk the talk, but we need to deliver on the issue of resources.

There are particular groups in society which need our protection when we refer to human rights. One that has been alluded to is the Traveller community. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, ECRI, report from one year ago noted that Ireland had a legislative weakness in dealing with the issue of racial profiling and suggested it introduce legislation to deal with it. It stated it would check on our progress in this regard in the near future. The report also noted that stronger efforts were needed in the area of Traveller-Roma accommodation, with the need for Ireland to introduce measures binding on local authorities in Traveller accommodation provision. This is an area that needs to be beefed up.

The way in which we respond to issues which some of the more vulnerable sectors of society experience dictates how these groups feel they are valued. The iReport facility is a reporting system for people, communities and organisations in Ireland to document serious incidents of a racist character which occur against citizens, those not born in Ireland and members of the Traveller community. If we were really serious about equality and human rights, we would address these issues. Sometimes racist issues arise, but how the State responds to them can often be more hurtful. Some of the accounts collected by the iReport organisation of how gardaí respond to racist incidents have been shocking, with very few being explored properly. For example, only one out of 100 victims can verify that they have been in receipt of an incident number and that there has been a proper investigation. The poor level of communication adds to the upset and confusion for victims. For example, gardaí told a white man reporting a car break-in that Travellers were probably responsible for the crime before they conducted an investigation into it. Another incident recounted a scenario where a garda, in questioning walkers at a popular tourist site, asked one man very aggressively about car break-ins when he learned that the man’s name was synonymous with the Traveller community. A Traveller family visiting a Garda station to request a stamp on their forms found the gardaí laughing and joking while stamping their children’s hands. They felt very degraded by that experience. The Minister is aware that Traveller children's details have been entered on the Garda PULSE system, causing upset to their families. Despite the denials by the former Garda Commissioner that there was no racial profiling by the Garda, external bodies and proof from the PULSE system indicates that there is.

This is not just a serious erosion of human rights or degradation of citizens but will also add to problems in the future. Several weeks ago I spent a Sunday afternoon in Rathkeale with some members of the Traveller community. I met one man, a successful businessman, who admitted one or two members of his family previously had been involved with the Garda not in a good way. He himself was a law-abiding citizen who had never had any problems with the law. His home was broken into in a violent armed robbery during which his family was held at gunpoint, while he was beaten in front of his grandchildren. The Garda did not investigate that robbery because, in their opinion, the family were members of the Traveller community. The gang went on to rob other families in the area and were eventually caught. Subsequent to this, the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, conducted a raid on this man's property. Again, the family was held at gunpoint, but this time there were no men present, just a granny, a mother and some grandchildren. One young boy faced armed gardaí from the CAB with helmets and torches, feeling his grandparent and mother was going to be shot. He thought it was the same burglars back again. The family had property taken from them which was later shown on television with a slogan saying, “proceeds from criminal activity”. I saw the property, the painting etc. It was returned to the family. It had not been misappropriated and was the family's own personal property. This family was tarred, vilified and demonised simply because they were members of the Traveller community. It is these antics that alienate generation after generation. The ten year old boy who witnessed his family being held at gunpoint will not respect the Garda anymore, nor will his uncle who was stopped on a laneway and beaten up by gardaí for no valid reason.

Unless we start to look seriously at measures to protect some of the most vulnerable groups in society, talk about merging human rights and equality organisations is simply that, talk. We need to educate all facets of the State in their dealings with minority groups. The worst case of this was the taking of the Roma children earlier this year, which is the subject of an inquiry. We need to respond far more seriously to these actions. The Minister needs to do more with the PULSE inquiry that has been established. We are alienating generations of the population. Apart from the appalling indictment that they lack basic human rights standards, Travellers and the Roma population are among the most excluded members of our society.

Another issue on which we need to deliver is women’s access to abortion services. Ireland has been rightly criticised for its violation of women’s human rights because of its lack of appropriate legislation on abortion. Last year we passed weak and appalling legislation which was supposed to give protection in law to a pregnant woman whose life might have been in danger by allowing her access to a termination. That law falls well short of that intention. Critically, it excludes that group of women who tragically discover their foetus has a fatal abnormality not compatible with life. Former Attorneys General have advised the State that this group potentially has a right to secure an abortion in Ireland by arguing in the European court that those women who had taken cases to the European court had not exploited all domestic avenues before doing so, thereby implying that had they done so, a hearing would have been granted, even within the confines of the Constitution, yet the Government has failed in the past year to legislate to allow abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities which, to my mind, is degrading, inhuman and a gross violation of people’s human rights.

Unlike former Ministers, the Minster is on top of his brief in what goes on in prisons and the case of prisoners. It is welcome that the phasing out of slopping out in prisons is under way. I accept that this will take time, but I am surprised, given the Minister’s knowledge, that he has stood over multi-cell occupancy, which is a degradation of human rights. We should not force people to share a prison cell. It is not good for the staff or prisoners themselves. If we are to advance as a state in protecting human rights, we need to address these concerns, not just talk about them.

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