Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his enlightened contribution. When I was a boy, Travellers used to frequent rural areas. They were welcome in people's houses, were usually given dinner and on many occasions were provided with accommodation, perhaps in a shed or barn. There was mutual respect between the two communities.

A significant amount has been done in recent years. In my opinion, this is a two-way programme. The Government, other agencies and the equality and equal status legislation can only do so much. There must be a fair interaction on both sides.

Accommodation is one of the major issues facing Travellers. Even though people will argue that the difficulties are more acute in certain areas, I am pleasantly surprised by the progress that has been made in that regard in recent years. It should be acknowledged that there was a significant increase — in the region of 7% or 8% — in the number of Traveller families between 2000 and 2005 and that, year on year, the position relating to Traveller accommodation has improved. The Minister of State, his departmental officials and local authorities were responsible for the latter.

I do not wish to be parochial but I am aware of a Traveller family in my county which, on six occasions, was offered accommodation of various types — from a five-bedroom house to a significant parcel of land — to try to encourage it to abandon the unauthorised site it was occupying. The family in question, for whatever reason, refused all offers of accommodation. I tried to persuade its members that they should take up the offer. The local authority, councillors and various agencies also did their utmost to try to intercede and help but unfortunately our efforts came to naught.

It would be remiss of the Seanad to fail to recognise a number of areas in respect of which progress has been made. Departmental statistics from November 2006 indicate that approximately 40% of Travellers were occupying standard housing, including voluntary housing, in the region of 12% were in private rented accommodation and between 8% to 8.5% were in group housing schemes. It is regrettable that a significant number — the figure then stood at 629 — remained on unauthorised sites.

Over the years large numbers of Travellers used their own resources to provide themselves with accommodation. They should be encouraged in this regard. It is obligatory for every local authority to provide properly serviced halting sites. It is not that long ago since my constituency of Cork South-West had no authorised halting site. It now has three or four and I welcome this support which allows people to have basic facilities such as sewerage, water and electricity on these sites. Local authorities and other housing groups make significant attempts to accommodate Travellers who wish to be housed and give them a slot in the community.

The previous speaker, who is a medical doctor, has experience from a medical perspective and I will not state he is wrong or right. I presume the Senator gave us the facts as he sees them. I would like to see progress, whether through education or encouragement at local level, in getting young male and female Travellers involved in sports such as soccer, football or rugby, which people state is elitist but I do not mind. The problem is not as acute in a rural area such as west Cork as it would be in the outreaches of Dublin or other such areas. Cork, and west Cork in particular, has a minority sport which is often forgotten, namely, road bowling. It is covered by Bol Chumann na hÉireann which is affiliated to Cumann Lúthchleas Gael.

I was involved in seeking funding for a pilot scheme which is being established in Dunmanway whereby an indoor road bowling alley of 50 m in length will be opened. When one shoots the bowl it will return through a spring mechanism. Traditionally, Travellers have been involved in this sport. Road bowling is popular in Armagh, west Cork and Mayo and I believe an all-Ireland was held last year or the year before in Wexford. I accept it is a minority sport.

Children must be attracted to sports such as road bowling, Gaelic football or other games at a young age. Having children who grew up in my home town with Traveller children at infant level and through national school and secondary school, I have no doubt many of them are treated well by schools and the education system. It is a pity young Travellers have such a large drop-out rate at junior certificate level.

It is also pity more engagement does not occur when sport has a camaraderie. Those who participate in road bowling are well treated, well catered for and looked after with no discrimination by Bol Chumann na hÉireann. Travellers have won county championships and they have also contested in international events. I would like to see progress made in this area. A pilot scheme could be commenced to get children aged seven, eight, nine or ten more involved in sport in their communities. International football and large clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool show us that it does not matter what country one is from or what is one's creed or belief as one will become a hero to young people if one is good at one's sport.

As someone with experience and who had a family member involved in teaching the Travelling community in Dublin for many years, I have a word of warning with regard to accommodation. I would hate to see a ghettoisation with a large concentration of halting sites, caravans or several Traveller families in one housing estate. That is a recipe for disaster. It is also a warning for dealing with discrimination of another type with regard to the influx of refugees and asylum seekers, where people are inclined to be ghettoised. It is important that Traveller accommodation is dealt with fairly. It should not mean Travellers are all lumped into the one estate because they are Travellers. This can create problems.

If I am honest, my experience as a local authority member of dealing with the Traveller community is mixed. As a previous speaker mentioned, modern society's obligations towards the Traveller community and responsibilities under legislation not to discriminate must be met by responsibilities of the Traveller community towards the settled community and greater interaction by the Traveller community with the settled community.

It is a misconception that the settled community has a "hands-up, hands-off" approach to the Traveller community. This is not the case from my experience, coming from a humble background. The relationship between education and the Traveller community works both ways. One can go so far to assist and I am in favour of ensuring they receive fair play, do not experience discrimination, obtain better education and housing and become involved in sport. However, one must also urge caution that we must have better engagement and rapport and a better sense of responsibility and fairness from the Traveller community to the settled community. This would be a great achievement.