Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the report. I thank the Chairman of the committee, Senator Flynn, as well as the Vice Chairman, Deputy Ó Cuív, and the staff of the committee for the time and effort they put into it. I also wish to thank the members of the Travelling community in Dublin, Cork and Galway for welcoming us into their communities and homes and being so generous with their time. I welcome our visitors in the Public Gallery.

This report contains 84 recommendations across the areas of health, education, housing and employment. The Acting Chairman is probably happy to know that I do not have time to speak to all those sections, but my colleagues will touch on some of the recommendations later. There are 18 recommendations relating to housing. Recommendations 68 to 71, inclusive, highlight the need for a national audit of living conditions and safety concerns on all Traveller-specific sites. These must be addressed. On one of my visits, Deputy Joan Collins and I met a man who invited us into his home. When we went in, the man had to advise us where to stand because the floors were ready to give way. The windows were rattling. There was mould and damp all over his home. The sockets were burnt out. Would any of the Members present live in those conditions? The man told us all he wanted was somewhere safe to which he could bring his grandchildren.

Recommendation 74 suggests that a national Traveller accommodation body should be established to oversee Traveller accommodation policy. Traveller organisations have been calling for this for years. The committee heard from many witnesses who spoke about discrimination faced by the Traveller community in trying to access housing. There is no doubt that is why they are over-represented in the homeless figures. The State has an appalling history in delivering culturally appropriate accommodation for Travellers. We have seen council budgets go unspent even though there was an obvious need for accommodation. Local authorities must do much more to deliver on this.

In the section on education, recommendations 22 and 23 point to the need for the restoration of Traveller funding in the context of education. That funding was cut in 2011 and 2012. The report recommends that targeted resources be made available for Traveller children in mainstream education. The Minister, Deputy Foley, needs to make sure the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill 2018 is enacted. We require a national Traveller education strategy, as suggested in recommendation 24 and 32.

The Government needs to implement this report. It cannot sit on a shelf, gathering dust like all other reports. The Government has a duty of care to the Traveller community across all Departments. I believe this report is an opportunity for it to fulfil that duty.

See this speech in context