Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

All of those things are welcome and at some levels, we are moving forward. I also note that 15 March, the national Traveller day of culture will see an important event on Traveller history and ethnicity at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham. These are all positive things but actual participation in culture starts with the basics where, quite frankly, we are not moving forward. While these are not directly within the Minister's remit, she should consider them as part of the project of making the formal acknowledgement of Traveller ethnicity a reality. Accommodation is one of the most basic elements of Traveller culture but Travellers in this country are 11 times more likely to be homeless. Against the background of disastrous homelessness generally, Travellers are disproportionately hit. Indeed, politicians, including the Minister in the past, have played fast and loose on the issue of Traveller accommodation but we need to move forward on that. In the area of education, we need to reinstate the visiting teacher for Travellers and to provide extra resource teachers in schools for Travellers. We must also include Traveller history and culture in the school curricula.

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