Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a shame for us that the Carrickmines tragedy took place but if it means that some improvement will happen in the lives of, and attitudes to, Travellers it might be some comfort to the Lynch, Connors and Gilbert families and the wider Traveller community in dealing with their loss. I offer my sincere condolences to the members of the community here tonight and to the wider Traveller community.

We all know that Travellers experience racism and discrimination with the effect that they are disadvantaged in many ways: in getting a job, in having a standard of living compatible with the rest of the community, in their health, life expectancy, the level of education they can attain and above all in the standard of housing in which it is considered acceptable for Travellers to live. There has been a policy among successive Governments to leave the Travellers to their own devices and do nothing about combatting the attitudes to them which are nothing short of racist. It was very annoying to listen to some comments by Deputy Barry. Effectively, what he said bordered on racism.

In the aftermath of Carrickmines we are all, naturally, focussing on the situation of Traveller housing. I am aware of the call from representative organisations for a central agency to deal with Traveller housing and to take that function away from local authorities. I am not surprised by this call, as it is clear that the political will is not there at local or national level to deal decently and humanely with Traveller housing. We can all see as we drive around the country some of those sites on housing estates reserved for Travellers. In many areas halting sites are hidden from public view. This is an indictment of our society.

I remember vividly in 1962 walking home from a football match with five lads like myself, ten and 11 years old. We passed a place known as the "barny brook" where there was a tent pitched by two men in their late twenties or early thirties, and a fire lighting. These men had been travelling around the community fixing pots, pans, buckets and so forth. What has stood out in my mind to this day was the fact that four of us walking by crossed the road, away from these two Travellers. That did not just happen, it was learned. It was the way people looked at the Traveller community, seeing it as different, and that created a sense of fear. It was prejudice and it was wrong.

I live in Ardfert, where there is an integrated approach to Travellers. They go to school, sitting with my grandchildren and my children before them. That was not always the case. There was a time when it was very difficult for Traveller families and children to have an education like the one my children and other people's children have. The problem that continues to exist is the local representatives' lack of responsibility at council and national levels. If we do not show leadership how can we blame others outside that circle? Irrespective of what people think, we have to show leadership and that means giving equal rights across the board to every person in our society. That includes recognising the ethnicity of the Traveller community and making sure it has the same right as we all have, the right to education, to health care and to be free citizens. I ask the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy English, to support this motion.

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