Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Senator Flynn. She said she came from a background of wheeling and dealing and she used those skills to great effect today when she went way beyond her time. Learning from that and building on those skills, maybe I will have the same success. She is the first Traveller ever elected to the Houses of the Oireachtas, which is significant, the first to address the Dáil, which is extremely significant, and her partner and child are here. We usually say behind every good man is a very good woman, but it is clear that there is a very good man behind the Senator, keeping her going and giving her the confidence and determination to persist, because that is what is needed. I welcome the distinguished visitors in the Gallery. It is great to see it after Covid, and for many reasons.

The report makes 84 recommendations in four areas. It is important to say the committee pays tribute and "was struck by the resilience of the Traveller community in the face of decades of deprivation, poverty and discrimination" and other things besides. Then it gives the recommendations and statistics.

To put it in context, as Deputy Tóibín did to some extent, in 1963, we had a Commission on Itinerancy. All of the facts were the same. Nothing has changed except the language. That commission identified itinerants, as they were called, as the problem. it appealed to charity and religious organisations to deal with and remove the problem and the cases of hostility and antipathy by strict enforcement of the law to restore public confidence. It wanted to invoke the influence of local clergy and local religious, charitable and welfare organisations to deal with the problem. We continue to other the problem and when we other differences rather than cherishing them, it is at a great cost to our democracy. That is what we are asked here in three languages, namely, English, Irish and Cant:

Difríochtaí a aithint le linn caitheamh linn go cothrom. Is é cothrom na féinne amháin atá uainn.

Recognising difference while being treated equally. All we want is fairness.

If we look from 1963 to now, which is almost 60 years, we are faced with the same range of problems. We have to ask ourselves as public representatives what is going on. We deplore what is happening in local authority but most of us were in local authorities. I echo what Deputy Bríd Smith said. I spent five years on a Traveller accommodation committee. It was the worst experience of my life. I did not go back on it. I did my best during those five years but it was extremely difficult to cope with the duplicitous language and the failure to act. Traveller representatives on the committee were not free to speak because they were utterly dependent on the local authority. I would never go back to that position.

We have failed to comply with our legal obligations. We talk about sanctions but we have done all of this already. All the city and county managers have powers to act. We should not be in a position where accommodation is not being rolled out.

I am not sure how much more time I can wheedle but as long as I can go on, I will. The four areas were health, education, housing and economy. There were contributions from Galway from the Galway Traveller Movement and Bounce Back Recycling. It is apparent that there are positive solutions to all of this. Let us stop dealing with something as a problem. Let us cherish the differences and go forward.

I agree with all of the recommendations but one that sticks out, besides the accommodation, is the one in relation to mainstreaming this in our education system. That could be easily done. To echo the words of my colleague, I wish we were here to celebrate the implementation of that declaration. I have exhausted the Ceann Comhairle's patience. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Ceann Comhairle.

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