Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome those in the Public Gallery and thank them for coming. I also welcome the Minister and acknowledge we are in good hands with him on this issue. Moreover, I acknowledge Senator Flynn, who chaired the committee, and the members it comprised. There are 84 recommendations but, as other Senators have said, there is no point in another report gathering more dust if we are not going to do anything about it. The committee has challenged the Oireachtas, advocates for the Traveller community and Travellers themselves to stay focused on the 84 key recommendations, broadly under the headings of health, education, employment and accommodation. When we talk about Traveller accommodation, I am very conscious of the horrific fire in Carrickmines, a prime example of bad housing policy and bad accommodation in an authority on which I was a county councillor for many years. Shame on that terrible situation, although I hope there will be some learning from it.I never like to think about or talk to a group of Travellers without taking time out to remember them and their great loss. They continue to struggle on a daily basis with the wipeout of family members, which was a tragedy related to housing policy, Traveller accommodation policy and overcrowding.

I have taken the time to read the report as I am sure everyone in the House has. I will single out a few key items. Recommendation 45 on employment states: "A comprehensive national Traveller employment action plan should be developed, resourced and implemented." A local vegetable shop in my town employed three Travellers. The owner took the decision to employ local people. These Travellers were local people, they were customers and they bought their vegetables, diesel and coal from this shop. This woman decided she would employ them. She never had a problem with any of them and, I am glad to say, two of them are still working with her and have done so for almost 20 years. She believed everyone should have the right to an opportunity to work for her. She told everyone - they did not have to be a Traveller - that if they came to her shop and made a bags of it they would be out the door. She stood in solidarity at a time when no one in the town supported Travellers. Fair play to her. That is a good example of mutual trust and respect. We must lead in business and enterprise, if we can give employment opportunities to anybody. Travellers are no different. They seek employment and income to provide for their families, in addition to accommodation. They are equally ambitious as anybody else. Somehow, it seems to be Travellers versus us. We are all seeking to do better for ourselves and our families and to support one another. That recommendation in the report is a particularly important point.

Recommendation 50 relates to employment and suggests greater support for social enterprises. I can think of no more enterprising people than Travellers. I have been on many of their sites where they are involved with horses - whether it is breeding horses, competing for horses or trading in horses. It is a commodity. Whether people are cattle dealers or horse dealers, they are dealers making shillings and making money. It is a noble profession. Let us be clear about that. The problem is many Travellers do not have the ideal facilities for it but they are enterprising and imaginative. Many of them know how to turn a buck and earn work from crafts, skills and other things.

I will talk about that in respect of education, which we also considered. Senator Flynn invited a group of Travellers from National University of Ireland, Galway to appear before the committee. It was one of the best audiovisual presentations I ever had concerning people who, against very difficult sets of circumstances and backgrounds, made it to university in Galway. By golly, they were fantastic. They told of their journeys, experiences and difficulties. I say "Well done" to them.

I will turn to recommendation 53 on employment, which states, "Culturally appropriate apprenticeship[s] and internship schemes should be developed in areas of traditional Traveller enterprise." Everyone knows what that means. I encourage it.

I picked out recommendation 68 on accommodation for special mention. It states, "An ... audit should take place of [the] living conditions ... [of] all traveller specific ... halting sites [and accommodation]". That should be one of the very first things we should do. We should audit what we have now and how we can improve it.

I will wrap up by saying "Well done" to the people who worked on this report. It includes 84 recommendations and guidelines. Let us all, across both Houses, commit to rolling them out. I appeal to the Traveller advocacy groups and Travellers themselves to also heap the pressure on to keep this report as a living, practical document that is ticking off and driving these issues. I wish everyone well with the report. Every one of these 84 recommendations can be achieved.