Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I have had the great privilege of being a member of committees that dealt with Traveller accommodation and other issues on this occasion and on previous occasions, including at local authority level. I am sure the Minister will have read the report, particularly given that he approaches these issues head-on. One important issue we in the committee highlighted in the report, which Senator Flynn mentioned earlier, related to the fact we want implementation at this stage. Enough quantitative and qualitative analysis has been done. The issues have been highlighted and a programme of actions is what is required at this stage. I do not think it merits further scrutiny, given the issues are blindingly obvious to most people. In fact, they were blindingly obvious even without the committee's work, but we have an empirical basis for them now.

Of the four key issues, I might begin with employment. Unemployment among the Traveller community stands at 80.2%, but it would be a racist myth to suggest that 80.2% of the Traveller community do not want to work or do not want jobs. Like in all sections of the community, there will be some people who do not have the capacity, but the point is we have to break that glass ceiling. It was necessary to do so in the area of women's participation in politics through quotas and so on, and we are doing to have to do likewise here. In the public services, where public procurement and Tús or social employment schemes are involved, there will have to be quotas. I put it to the Minister that he should examine that matter. We will not do this on the basis of goodwill, on a wing and a prayer or through aspiration or exhortation to employers. There will have to be quotas whereby they are legally implicit within the contract. Where work is being done that is pertinent to Travellers, such as development within their areas, why can it not be mostly Travellers who are employed to work on it? It will take a graduated effort, but I commend the Minister to start acting on employment.

School completion is the next issue that has to be dealt with. I might outline some stark headline figures. Only 13% of the Traveller population complete second level school, an horrendous figure that indicts us all. Obviously, there are issues here. We have to examine bullying and racism in schools where they impact on Travellers and that needs to be researched and dealt with immediately. Some 28% of Travellers leave school before the age of 13, another horrendous statistic. After-school clubs need to made available to Travellers, as does the school meals programme. Support systems need to be in place, with the culturally acceptable practices for Travellers to get over their feelings of alienation. They are not staying away from school due to some philosophical position or because they woke up one morning and decided they did not want education. Of course they want education; their minds are as curious as ours and they want to break through as much as we do in that respect. Nevertheless, there are reasons they do not stay in school and we have to get to the heart of those reasons.

Turning to physical and mental health, there need to be a ring-fenced health budget for Travellers, with a certain amount of money that cannot go elsewhere. There need to be specific, peer-led mental health programmes for Travellers. In the context of peer-led initiatives, that is something I neglected to mention when I was speaking to the employment issue. Where there are projects on Traveller sites, with physical work to be done and various other tasks, Travellers should be involved in all that.

The final issue I was going to come to, although my time is almost up, relates to accommodation. One in three Traveller households lives in mobile or temporary accommodation. We need that to be monitored and there needs to be a quarterly statement from local authorities as to their progress on Traveller accommodation.

It is all about implementation at this stage. Further analysis is not necessary.