A lot to be done for Travellers a year on from ethnicity status

A lot remains to be done for Travellers if their lives are to be improved.

That’s the view of a spokesperson for Sligo Traveller Support Group who attended an event an event in Dublin last Thursday to mark a year since Traveller ethnicity was recognised. The spokesperson said: “The recognition of Traveller ethnicity by the Irish State was very welcome last year and was long overdue.

“However, the recognition of ethnicity needs to be more than symbolic in nature and must be followed by real practical actions that will improve the lives of Travellers in Ireland.

“There is a huge accommodation and housing crisis across the country and Travellers are drastically impacted by this. Since 2000 over €55 million for Traveller accommodation went unspent.

“In 2017 over €4.1 million alone was retuned by local authorities unspent. This isn’t acceptable when there are so many families living without adequate running water, no sanitation facilities and severe overcrowding. In the area of mental health Traveller men have a suicide rate over seven times higher than the rest of the population, the figure is six times higher for women.

“Discrimination is also a priority issue. In a recent survey by Behaviour and Attitudes it was found that that 2% of people said they would “avoid” Polish people compared to 35% for Travellers.

“There is a growing sense of deep frustration in the Traveller community that the recognition of ethnicity has not brought any real change to peoples lives. This will continue to grow.

“Only through drastic action in areas like accommodation, mental health and discrimination will this change.”