Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is my first public opportunity to congratulate my colleague from Donegal, Deputy McHugh, on his appointment as Minister for Education and Skills. I have known him for a long time. While we do not agree on everything, I have a lot of regard for him personally. He is a very sincere, decent person. I have no doubt that, in light of the very welcome statement of his predecessor, he will implement the legislation in the spirit in which it is intended.

Mr. Peter Casey resides on the Inishowen Peninsula, where I am from. He has been widely condemned, and rightly so, but let us not fool ourselves. He said out loud what a very significant section of public representatives in this country privately believe but do not say out loud, although some have done so in the past. A very significant number of public representatives across this country share Mr. Casey's views. Those views are ignorant and demonstrate ignorance of Irish history.

In the recent briefing organised by Senator Kelleher, an historian was present who made a number of very important points that all Irish people need to understand. They need to understand their own history. Irish Traveller culture dates back thousands of years. Travellers have continued with the nomadic ways. All our ancestors were nomadic. They lived lives aligned with cows and other livestock. They moved up to the mountains and down to the pastures at different times of the year. They moved from place to place, overseen by chieftains. That is ancient Gaelic civilisation. We are a nomadic people. Those are our Irish roots. Indeed, these roots reflect the roots of almost every civilisation in the world. The Traveller people have continued that tradition. That is what makes them a distinct ethnic group that we should value and cherish. I refer not only to their nomadic lifestyle but also to their association with Irish traditional music and Irish traditions. They maintain dearly a connection with our ancestors in a way that the rest of us no longer maintain.

To live a settled life was to embrace new ways. In Ireland, we were colonised. Increasingly over the years, those of us who settled were adapting to an English or European lifestyle and leaving behind the old ways. It is tragically ironic that the political leaders in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, who presided over the new State that was apparently free from oppression of colonialism, went on to lead us to the Commission on Itinerancy, which produced one of the most appalling reports in the history of this State. It basically criminalised and demonised the Irish Traveller way of life. The political leaders to whom I refer would actually have regarded themselves as nationalists. As I said at the briefing, they would have championed the O'Neills, O'Donnells and the ancient Gaelic civilisation, and they would have sung songs about these. They would have told the tragic story of the flight of the earls from Lough Swilly, which is in my county and that of the Minister, Deputy McHugh, and the loss of the earls' civilisation. They were criminalising the very people who adhered to the old ways of Gaelic times. That is the reality of our history. That is why this Bill is so important. It is actually a beautiful story. It is a tragic story but it is a story with which we need to reconnect. By doing that, we give true value to Travellers' lives, particularly those of Traveller children across this island.

I yearn for the truth to be told in our schools. I yearn for our children to be told the true story of Irish Traveller people so they may love and embrace the culture Travellers held on to dearly in addition to their own history, truth and story. By doing so, we could end the horror Traveller children have faced. Traveller children have grown up with being bullied and called knackers, tinkers and dirt throughout the decades. Adults, privately in their own so-called polite society, have held conversations reflecting such thinking. What Peter Casey did in his ignorance was say out loud what many believe privately. That is the truth; let us not deny it. That is why this Bill is so important. The day of the recognition of ethnicity was an amazing and a powerful day. The people behind me fought long for it. I refer to the activists and leaders of the Irish Traveller community. The steps taken will not be enough, however, unless we continue to reverse the decades of ignorance. If we can teach our children the truth of our history and celebrate the Irish Traveller tradition and Travellers' immense and true contribution to our island, then all Traveller children can in ten or 20 years be truly proud of who they are, where they come from and how they held on to the old ways - the honourable ways of our people. Most of them are proud already.I thank Senator Kelleher and the Minister, Deputy McHugh. I have no doubt he will uphold the statement of his predecessor as Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, and implement this legislation to make sure history is taught in our schools. I refer to reversing all the years of ignorance and nonsense so that in future generations we will not have another Peter Casey, or some other politician, with these private views, and we will see the light instead of darkness.