Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. I have experienced a difficulty around the whole area of how the Civil Service system, through no fault of its own probably, deals with illiterate people, whether they are Travellers or not. My office is in Rathkeale and 50% of my community are Travellers. We do not have anti-social behaviour or crime. That is a fact and if anybody wants to visit us they are welcome. Sometimes we feel vilified by the media image or impression that is given of our community. When I talk about our community I am talking about 50% Traveller and 50% settled.

I wish to talk about some specific issues I have encountered. I met a group of six young Traveller women - I am meeting a group of 12 on Friday - who described being called in because they were being cut off from their jobseeker's allowance or another benefit. They have to line up in a queue, which is intimidating for them. They then have to present themselves at a hatch and are given a form which they cannot deal with. They are embarrassed. I have also met one or two from the settled community who feel like this as well. They do not know how to deal with what is required of them or respond. That is one side of it. Inside the hatch is somebody who has to deal with many difficulties, who may have five, six or ten people in a queue and does not have the time to deal with the situation. They may not even have been advised on how to deal with it.

Given our situation in Newcastle West, the employment exchange and Department of Social Protection have a level of recognition but there is an issue for people who are illiterate and have to present themselves at these offices. Even those who are literate often tell me that it is the language they cannot deal with - the words of officialdom. They are not used to dealing with words of officialdom and that does not only apply to the Travelling community but often to the settled community as well. I am highlighting it in these circumstances because I meet this issue regularly.

To give an example of these kind of difficulties, one of the girls came to me and said she was being cut off from her jobseeker's allowance. The social welfare people told her she had to look for a job and asked would she go around to the bars and see could she get a job collecting glasses. She said to me, "Sure, we are not allowed into a bar until we are married". I am just expressing that there is a different culture within the Travelling community that the system does not understand. A book will be published shortly dealing with this area, which is very welcome. I have asked the Oireachtas Library to obtain a copy.

When we - the Travellers or the settled community where my office is - see programmes like "The Town the Travellers Took Over" or the big fat gypsy weddings it must be asked what kind of message is being given. The networks play these programmes over and over again. Maybe it is good TV but do those who produce and present these shows understand there are people they might hurt? It is very easy to offer an inducement to a family of any community to do a programme about how they deal with any of their events, but how does it make everybody else in that community feel about the way they are being presented? We are all entitled to have the type of weddings that we want in our families, whether we are from Australia, America, the United Kingdom, Ireland or from the Travelling community. We are entitled without being almost vilified or suffering implications. Good luck to everybody who has their weddings, in my view.

See this speech in context