Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Question 430: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to recognise Travellers as a distinct ethnic group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9107/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Traveller Policy Division of my Department has had discussions with the five National Traveller Groups about the ethnicity issue. The question has also been the subject of extensive discussion at meetings of the National Traveller Monitoring and Advisory Committee. Discussions with the five National Traveller Organisations around the issue of ethnicity have shown that there is a wide divergence of opinion among Irish Travellers in relation to the question of ethnicity. There is a need for discussions to take place in the Traveller community around this issue and full consideration given to the implications and consequences of any such recognition.

Whether or not Travellers are considered to form a distinct ethnic group in Irish society is of no domestic legal significance, since the key anti-discrimination measures, the Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977, the Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts specifically identify Travellers by name as a social group which is given special protection in law. The Equality Act 2004, which transposed the EU Racial Equality Directive, applied all the protections of that Directive across all the grounds, including the Traveller community ground.