Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm go bhfuil an tAire Stáit féin tar éis teacht isteach leis an gceist a thógáil. I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. I am aware of his concern regarding the Traveller community and his commitment to trying to progress issues.

There was a big occasion in the House earlier this year when Travellers were declared an ethnically distinct group in our society. The real question is whether this will translate into a change in their status and well-being. The Traveller community survey that was carried out is extremely informative. It shows the serious challenges faced by the Traveller community. I compliment the Traveller organisations and the Community Foundation for Ireland for commissioning this analysis. It follows many other analyses. I recall a study carried out, as part of a far bigger analysis of social attitudes, by an tAthair Micheál MacGréil in which he tracked this issue over many decades. The standing of many groups changes but, as he said at the time, the standing of Travellers is the great apartheid in Irish society.

The highlights from the survey are quite scary. Some 62% said that accommodation issues are worse than they were five years ago and 72% said that mental health issues are worse than they were five years ago. Unemployment, at 50%, is worse than five years ago. The survey states that 60% are not working but when one adds to that the number who are on schemes or in Traveller community work, we find that it is over 90%. This means only 10% are in commercial employment. More seriously, 0% of Travellers are in State employment. This is an issue I tried to deal with when I served as a Minister. We looked at ways of ensuring that people from the Traveller community would be brought into the public service. Another pertinent factor is the fact that only 30% of Travellers who get training end up in employment. That is a very low progression rate.

Some 36% of Travellers state that they have very poor health, which is way above the national average. We are aware of the suicide rate and, in particular, there is a high rate of mental health issues among men, as well as low self-esteem. Unfortunately, 48% say that they have experienced discrimination at the hands of the Garda and 25% say they have experienced it with housing authorities. Unlike their counterparts in the settled community, a very high percentage of Travellers must interact with housing authorities for public housing. A much higher percentage of the rest of the community provides its own housing and would not have day-to-day contact with housing authorities. The figure in respect of pub staff, shop staff and so forth is approximately 30%. A figure that those of us who work consistently with Travellers can testify to is the 90% who say that they have been the subject of discrimination by the public at large at some time in their lives. It is interesting that, in this survey and the one last year, the figure for Connacht-Ulster is 10% to 20% lower, which shows there is more social acceptance in that province.

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