Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be here to discuss the report of the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community. I welcome Senator Flynn to the House. We look forward to seeing her here more often, I hope. I also wish to take a moment to acknowledge, as others have, Ronnie Fay, co-director of Pavee Point, who recently passed away. On this day last month, so many gathered to say goodbye to her. Ronnie was a tireless advocate for the Traveller community. Knowing her and engaging with her since I became Fine Gael spokesperson for equality was a privilege. It was a privilege to work with her and to have the benefit of her education and the depth of her knowledge and to learn from her. I am sorry she is not here today to see this very important report discussed in the Chamber.

The Traveller community has been all too isolated and neglected a part of our community in our society, often purposely pushed and bullied into the sidelines in ways that cannot be tolerated. The Traveller community has faced discrimination, racism and an inequality of opportunity that I and so many others have taken for granted entirely. The figures in this important report speak for themselves. Other speakers have cited them but I wish to do so also. The figures show much shorter life expectancies among Travellers, with 11% of Traveller deaths attributed to suicide and very important and serious concerns about health services and bullying in education settings. The latter is one of the things I find most difficult. I demand yet again that the Department of Education come forward with a serious and integrated national Traveller education strategy that seeks to address those issues, but I will come back to that. The figures show cuts to Traveller-specific education supports and difficulties obtaining ongoing employment outside of the community outlined in the report, with one in three Traveller households living in accommodation with no sewerage facilities and a further one in five living with no piped water source. They are stark figures. Water, a basic need, is just not there for one in five Traveller households.

We have spoken a lot about ensuring that our elected representatives are just that: representative of the people across our diverse shared communities in Ireland. However, we simply have not delivered for all the diverse communities in Ireland. I hope that the work ongoing in the Government, particularly this report, might give impetus and momentum to that work and help to deliver change. There have been some positive changes. In the two months leading up to Christmas, we heard from the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, who confirmed there was a full spend by local authorities of over €21 million for Traveller accommodation in 2021. That budget has increased in 2022. There is the requirement on local authorities to spend that money, and there are penalties for failing to do so. This report has been a particularly poor end-of-year report for local authorities, where year after year there has been that underspend. As other Deputies have said, that money goes back to the central allocation. However, I wish to mention briefly Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which has worked hard to buck that trend of underspending. That is fine to note, but that needs to be persistent and needs to be the basic standard and by no means the exception.

A few days before this report was published, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, announced ring-fenced funding to support Travellers and the Roma community in higher education, a 50% increase on last year's funding, now totalling €450,000. I go back to my point about the Department of Education and the need to bring forward the national Traveller education strategy. It has been in development for many years. I know it is at the top of Pavee Point's list of priorities. We have seen reports on children in the Traveller community in schools and how difficult it has been for them. There is bullying and isolation. We know there are teachers and principals who go out of their way to make children feel included, to make sure they have the services and supports they need, to try to identify, to stop and to have a zero-tolerance approach to racism and racist language in schools. That is not, however, the universal experience of children in the Traveller community in schools, which is simply not good enough.

There has been positive movement but we need to do more, as I said. This is not just about funding and supports; it is about the way we do things. It is about education in schools, educating people more broadly about racism and acknowledging that, unfortunately, it still very much exists in modern Ireland. It is about a level of understanding and respect, which we have been lacking, to live side by side and in an integrated way with consideration and respect for all people in their communities, their identities, the rich traditions that come from the different communities and how they can only contribute to one another and add to the vibrant culture that is Ireland.

I again acknowledge Senator Flynn and thank her for the work she has put into the special committee and the report. As I walked back into Leinster House after lunch today, I met her partner and daughter. The latter is too young to understand the impact of the work the Senator is doing, what it means and the legacy she is creating with that work and in being here. I note the Senator's representative function for Traveller women, the Traveller community more broadly and women more broadly and what it says about inclusivity and respect for each other. I am delighted to see her in the House. I did not know that was going to happen and it is important that it has and that her daughter will see it in time. I thank the Senator for her work on this and I hope it gives impetus to the Government to deliver in the way that is needed.

See this speech in context