Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everybody in the Gallery. I welcome Senator Flynn and thank her for being here and for chairing the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community, which was established in September 2020 to complete the work initiated by the previous joint committee, in which Collete Kelleher played a major role. We looked at four areas: physical health, mental health and suicide rates, in respect of which there are 21 recommendations; school completion rates and educational attainment, particularly at second and third level, compared with the settled community, which includes 23 recommendations; labour market participation, having regard to the unemployment rate of 80% among Travellers, containing 22 recommendations; and access to housing and accommodation, including Traveller-specific accommodation, in the context of the significantly higher homelessness rate among Travellers compared with the settled population, which included 18 recommendations.

Over the years there have been numerous reports which sit on shelves gathering dust on various areas, particularly the Traveller community. We want to see this report implemented. That will be the test of this debate. Any public representative - including local councillors, to whom we should bring this - by agreeing to this is behoved to implement it in a positive way and to at all times support the Traveller community through the recommendations of the report. That would mean all of us playing a positive role around the Traveller community and not undermining said recommendations.

This is the first time we have seen Cant, the language of the Traveller community, used in a report. That is important, and a milestone from that point of view.

I mentioned that there were four areas. Some of these recommendations could have been implemented by now. I refer, for example, to the recommendations on health. Recommendation 6 states, "The National Traveller Health Action Plan should be published as a matter of urgency and an independent implementation body, with ring-fenced budgets to drive delivery and implementation, should be established". Has that been done? Is it in train? I ask the Minister of State to respond on this point.

Recommendation 22, on education, is a call to: "Restore the dedicated funding to Traveller Education cut in the 2011, 2012 period in full and ring fence it to provide supplementary educational support for members of the Traveller Community where they would benefit from same." Has that been done? It is very simple. This report was published five months ago. Has that measure been put in place or set in train? Perhaps the Minister of State could comment on this as well.

Recommendation 47 relates to employment and states:

There should be formal positive action measures for recruiting Travellers to the public sector. These programmes need to be led, and funded, from central government. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, DPER, should be the lead department as it fits within [its] remit.

Has that been done? It is something that is simple and straightforward and that we could implement quickly. Will the Minister of State also comment on this point?

Recommendation 74, on housing, states, "A National Traveller Accommodation Authority should be established to oversee the development and implementation of Traveller accommodation policy". Has that been done? Is it in train? Can a report be brought to us on this aspect? Equally, recommendation 81, also on housing, states: "Cena should be funded to advise social housing landlords on the design, location and management of Traveller-specific accommodation projects." Cena is a housing body that can play a leading role in respect of Traveller housing accommodation.

Those of us on the committee visited several sites in Dublin, Cork and Galway. When I visited the site at Spring Lane with my colleagues, it was appalling to see people having to live in the conditions they were in. On the other hand, when we walked into those people's homes, we were welcomed and the pride in and running of those homes was brilliant. That is not being patronising, recognising the conditions they were living in. It behoves this Government and this Dáil to ensure that the areas and the homes where members of the Traveller community are living are up to standard. I mention the National Traveller Women's Forum, which sent an email concerning this debate. I thank the organisation for doing that.

President Higgins was at National University of Ireland Galway to mark Traveller Ethnicity Day on Tuesday. A report on the occasion stated: "On a day when the long and sometimes difficult journey of travellers was being honoured, he said it was vital that society would never be slow to point to what has yet to be achieved." I will conclude on this point. I ask the Dáil to implement these recommendations.We should perhaps get a report on the progress of the implementation of all these recommendations. We could invite the relevant Ministers in, maybe every eight months, to update us on how they stand.

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