Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Three years ago, I got a telephone call from the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, to be one of his 11 nominees. To think I am still here three years later is incredible. Almost three years ago, a report called No End in Site was launched. It was about a specific halting site where children lived in dire accommodation. Where is that report? To the best of my knowledge, not one of the recommendations has been implemented in the past two and a half years. It is my job as a Member of this House and, most important, as a member of the Traveller community to speak on these issues and keep the pressure on the Government to bring about quality of life for members of the Traveller community and other ethnic minority groups. It is almost three years since that report was launched. It was all over the media how Traveller children were treated in society. As a young girl in Ballyfermot, on the Labre Park halting site I talk about a lot, I ended up in Our Lady’s Hospital several times with infections due to the living conditions. I have a lot of empathy for those children. We need those recommendations to be implemented. I am looking for a debate on where we are with the recommendations, what is next and how we can move that report forward into action. What is wrong with us is that we have so many plans but very little action behind them?