Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach and wish also to thank my colleague, Senator Ruane, for giving me her time slot today. Today marks the fourth anniversary of the recognition of Travellers in Ireland as an ethnic minority group, after decades of being denied our Traveller ethnicity. The then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, stood up in this very Chamber on 1 March 2017.He made a lovely statement which went down in history and went on the on record. However, we are not legally recognised as an ethnic minority group in Ireland. The fact that we are an ethic minority group is not on a single legal paper. There is a lot of legislation and policy that needs to be changed for the Traveller community to be valued in Ireland as an indigenous ethnic minority group of people. The first step forward was taken in March 2017 but we have not taken the next step. We have not taken the second, third or fourth steps. Four years on, we need to change policy and the legislation and to look at the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill. We need hate crime legislation, we need to develop and implement a national Traveller mental health strategy, which was included in the programme for Government last June, and we need to make sure the Traveller language is supported and celebrated as well as our musical traditions. People in my community are very musical and this needs to be shared. Our arts and our language need to be shared. Our community is part of this nation's identity because we are an indigenous group of people within it.

I could stand here and say we have come a long way with policies and NGOs. The likes of the Irish Traveller Movement and Pavee Point have been working for many years to get Travellers recognised as an ethnic minority group in Ireland. If I were to speak to Travellers in Ireland and ask them how they feel since receiving recognition they would say, and I know this from my own experience, that it was just a token recognition for the sake of being recognised. I call on Members of both Houses to support the Traveller community, NGOs and me, as a professional in this House, to bring that recognition to light. Let us all take the next steps together to celebrate and value the Traveller community. We are a different ethnic minority group but we need to celebrate each other's differences. While we may be different, we should be treated as having equal value and equal worth in Ireland. I wanted to note that today.