An Oireachtas committee has submitted a report to the Irish Government recommending the official recognition of Travellers' ethnicity.
The report calls on the Taoiseach or the Minister of Justice to make a statement to the Dáil confirming that the State recognises the ethnicity of the Travelling community. It also recommends that the Government write to relevant international bodies confirming this recognition. The report’s final recommendation is for the Government to build on these initiatives and commence a time-limited dialogue with the Traveller representative groups about drafting new or updating existing legislation as required.
Click here to read the report in full.
Committee member/rapporteur and Sinn Féin TD Pádraig MacLochlainn said that the committee “drew upon overwhelming evidence in favour of traveller ethnicity”. “The recommendations outlined in this report should now be acted upon swiftly,” he continued. “It is no longer tenable for this State to deny Traveller ethnicity.”
In the United Kingdom Irish Travellers have been recognised as an ethnic minority distinct from non-Traveller Irish people since 2000, and since 1997 in Northern Ireland.
Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre welcomed the report’s publication. In a press release, Pavee Point said “It is time to stop playing politics with this issue and end this cycle of ethnicity denial,” it said. “It will be of huge symbolic importance to Travellers within Ireland and further afield.”
Click here to read a report of the Committee report in the Irish Times.