Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I congratulate everyone who was involved in writing this report. I was not there when it was being done, but I congratulate them on the incredible recommendations. I will not speak about writing the report because I was not part of it.

It is very important that we are discussing minority communities today. Every time we speak about minority communities in the House it is not just about speaking about them but having a little extra layered in and understanding a little more each time about how to work best to empower our friends who come from minority communities. I do not stand here and pretend that I know all the issues because I do not. I never will know all the issues, but I will do my very best through debates like this to learn, take it on board, expand my knowledge and advocate as best I can. Like my colleagues, I often get frustrated when a policy is launched, activated, sets out goals and there is funding allocated to it, but the goals of that policy are not achieved. That happens on so many things, particularly on Traveller issues. There is so much money that it is a mortal sin, as my mother would say, that this funding for Traveller accommodation was not drawn down by local authorities.What is wrong there? Governments gave that money and it was not spent. We must look at each of those national policies and ask the experts why those policies did not work and why, when the local authorities or whoever else were given the opportunity, whether that was the regional health authority or whoever, that did not translate into proper change and assistance for people who need it from all minority communities.

We are all equal, but what we need now is more about equity. We need to build equality into the system because, clearly, there is an issue whereby minority communities, specifically Travellers in the context of this debate, do not feel as though they have equitable access to many services, and they do not. I have just returned from the launch of Fianna Fáil's women's health policy at which representatives from Pavee Point, having contributed to the policy, spoke. I was very struck to learn the life expectancy of a Traveller woman is her early 60s. What a loss it is to our country when we lose women at that rate. There is no data collection on specific Traveller healthcare needs. Ten thousand women gave birth in the Rotunda last year and 2,000 of them received mental health supports. How many of those 2,000 were from the Traveller community? We do not know because we are not collecting those data. A total of €350 million was specifically allocated in respect of Traveller mental health. We need to know and ensure that this money is specifically targeted, that it works and that we are empowering communities and building up people to be their best. None of us is any better or worse than anyone else; it is the chances and opportunities we get that allow us to get even better chances and opportunities.

Significant funding has been given, and while we need a lot more, we also need change in how it is delivered. Change can be facilitated from the top down, but it must come from the communities and those communities need to be empowered and assisted to help themselves and one another, and to help everyone else understand how we can make this society fairer and more equal. I thank everybody who was involved in producing the report. I have not yet got through it all but I congratulate each of them. I look forward to working on it and ensuring the 80-odd recommendations will be implemented.