Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are more than 80 recommendations in the report. They are very strong and they cover all areas of life because, sadly, Travellers in Ireland have experienced systematic disadvantage, discrimination and very bad consequences across many areas of life. We are not speaking to all of them here.

I would like to speak to some of the areas, such as education because that is a crucial one. I note the award for the NUI Galway Mincéirs Whiden Society, and that transformation is needed in every level of education. However, the issues have been left again and again and have now become a crisis, and that is why there is the focus today on the mental health issues Senator Flynn outlined and housing issues. If there is a housing crisis in Ireland, there has been a long-time Traveller accommodation crisis. What is particularly notable about it is that rather endeavouring to solve it, we have seen local authorities across Ireland going out of their way to not address and solve it. That is seen in the €72 million that was not even drawn down by local authorities over the decade from 2008 to 2019. When funding is available, that is an active choice to not even seek to address the Traveller accommodation crisis.

The issues which we have seen and which exist as a consequence of the failure over decades to address them include overcrowding. The Irish Traveller Movement has counted more than 1,400 Traveller families nationally who are living in overcrowded accommodation. That is invisible in some of the homelessness figures because people support and will support families and each other, so there are families who are doubling up and having to share their bays in halting sites and rooms in housing. There is a very significant gap. As regards the 1,400 that are in overcrowded accommodation, we know that the number is probably much more but it is not being captured. Travellers are over-represented in emergency accommodation in the State. Again, we do not have all the figures we should have for this because the ethnicity of Travellers is not often recorded in homelessness figures nationally. Local authorities and the Government therefore often do not have a full picture of the needs of Travellers.

If we look to where we have such figures, in 2019 some 25% of homeless children in emergency accommodation outside Dublin were Travellers and 13% of homeless adults were Travellers. That is a quarter of all the homeless children. Consider what that means for a homeless child in terms of access to education. Think of the incredible promise we are losing, the opportunities and the brilliant young people who are not getting to exercise their full opportunities in education because they are in those situations.

Again, there are consequences in terms of sanitation. Due to the lack of proper provision, many people are living on unofficial sites. The sanitation units on both official and unofficial sites are often deeply inadequate. We saw that in the particular impact that Covid-19 had on Travellers and, indeed, in outbreaks of other diseases which we should not have to face in this State.

To conclude, a national Traveller accommodation authority is promised and is needed. This is not being addressed at local level. It has to be a national issue and must be addressed nationally. We must also ensure that as new development plans are made across the country that Traveller accommodation of high quality, that is inclusive and positive, is central for the State. This is a crucial recommendation.