Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Flynn as a bheith anseo agus as na focail a dúirt sí linn inniu. I thank the Senator very much for the report. It was very interesting to work with her. Well done to her. I was very interested in what Deputy Ó Cathasaigh was saying about the curriculum in the schools. The report is a really useful tool. It is a rich collection of statistics all in the one place. They jump at you because the statistics on all of these areas, employment, housing, health and education, really speak for themselves and explain, without requiring you to wonder about it, that there is absolutely systemic discrimination against Travellers in all aspects of our lives. What Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said about trying to find a reference to nomadic people in our curriculum speaks volumes. Our curriculum is designed by people who work in the Department of Education, which is run by whoever is in this House at a given time. If the Deputy found it difficult to find such a reference, there is obviously a systemic problem. It does not just fall from the sky that there is no regard for the nomadic history of the Travellers in Ireland, nor does it fall from the sky that there is a high rate of suicide among Traveller men, that there is low educational attainment in that community or that 27% of Travellers leave school before the age of 13, which is a shocking statistic in this day and age. It might not have been 40 or 50 years ago, but it is now. There is a reason for those things. They have a systemic history and there is a systemic reason for them.

I experienced this as the chairperson of the Traveller accommodation programme in Dublin City Council. I chaired that group for four or five years. It was like bashing your head against a brick wall because you could get the co-operation of council officials verbally and in their body language - they would say "Yes" to this or to that and that they would do the other - but nothing was ever achieved because, on every level on which you tried to move forward, you were blocked from making the progress you needed to make. We visited Labre Park in Ballyfermot as part of the committee's work. That has actually gone backwards in terms of the promises that were made. The residents were promised regeneration more than 20 years ago. There was a promise that 40-odd houses would be regenerated. It is now down to approximately 15 in 2022. The residents are hopeful that they might get 15. The consequence of this is that the council ends up saying that Travellers actually prefer settled accommodation and do not really want Traveller-specific accommodation. Travellers are forced to choose or accept settled accommodation because the authorities are not delivering on the promise of Traveller-specific accommodation. It is integration almost by oppression. It is completely the wrong approach and it will not work. It will contribute to poor mental health, bad outcomes and a lack of confidence and self-sustainability.

In every aspect of the work we do in giving political leadership, we need to be very conscious of that. Never again should we see a political leaflet used to gather support or votes in any kind of election by undermining the Traveller community in the local area. That should never happen again but it has happened. There should be laws in places for cases where it does happen. The report is really important but, as the previous Deputy said, acting on it is even more important because, if we do not do that, all we are doing is perpetuating the systemic racism that exists in our society that prohibits and inhibits change from the very roots.

It is also very important that we recognise on a historical level the role the Traveller community has played in enriching our culture, our music, our diversity and our language. To set that aside and say it does not matter is to be soulless and to disregard what we, as a population, are made of. The Traveller community and its culture is a great part of that. There needs to be an aspect to this that looks into how to preserve and promote that culture and how to give more than just lip service to that culture by saying things like Travellers are wonderful actors, singers, dancers or whatever. Fundamentally, if we do not change the conditions under which Travellers live and really take seriously the problems in all four categories highlighted in this report, we will be failing yet again. I sincerely hope we do not do that.

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