The National Traveller Health Action Plan (NTHAP) was published in November 2022. The National Traveller Health Action Plan Implementation Group has been set up in line with Action 1 of the Plan. This is particularly crucial given that Travellers, Traveller organisations and the HSE have put significant energy and trust into the development of the Plan with the hopes that it will deliver essential and urgent changes for Traveller families on the ground.

The development of local 5 year NTHAPs are underway in each region and it’s important to ensure active participation of HSE (in all divisions) and Traveller organisations or Traveller Primary Health Care Projects in the development of these Plans.

Contact your THU coordinator for more information. You can review the NTHAP here.

A review of NTRIS was due to take place in 2021 and is currently underway. Pavee Point is feeding into this review process and emphasising the need for effective implementation structures to be created.

The European Commission has assessed the commitments and progress made by EU member states in terms of their National Roma Strategic Frameworks (NRSF). All Member States were due to have this in place by September 2021, however, many countries were delayed. Ireland is the only country named in the report with an expired NRSF (since December 2021). The Committee’s full Assessment can be found here and our associated briefing attached.

Pavee Point has been advocating for the development of a Traveller Education Strategy to address Traveller education inequalities.  We were successful if having a commitment to this included in the current Programme for Government.

Recently, specific targets in relation to Travellers and Roma  have been included in the  National Access Plan for Equity of Access, Participation and Success in Higher Education, 2022 – 2028.

However, none of the mainstream educational strategies contain targets aimed directly at increasing Traveller or Roma participation at early years, primary or post-primary levels. The inequalities and exclusion faced by Traveller and Roma children in education, early childhood education and care are now exacerbated by the differential effects of COVID-19.

The development of a National Traveller Education Strategy remains an urgent and outstanding priority.

National Data Equality Strategy – Data on Ethnicity in All Government and  State Data Sets

Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre has worked in the area of ethnic equality data collection and monitoring  for many years and has worked specifically with the Central Statistics Office and the Census since the early 2000s.

We have lobbied for the introduction of ethnic equality data across all government data collection systems and has been agreed to as part of the National Traveller Roma and Inclusion Strategy, Migrant Strategy and a number of other Strategies.

The Department of Children, Equality, Youth, Integration and Disability is currently developing a Data Equality Strategy, which we welcome, and Pavee Point is on the Working Group overseeing this.   We are working to ensure that ethnic equality monitoring is part of all government and state data sets.

Pavee Point’s Co Director Martin Collins is a member of the National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee.  This is only statutory national committees on Traveller issues.

Through this committee Pavee Point is advocating for the establishment of a Traveller Accommodation Agency to implement policy on Traveller accommodation and also lobbying for the implementation of the recommendations of the Expert Review Group on Traveller Accommodation published in 2019.

While we see the potential of the Third National Strategy on DSGBV in addressing DSGBV as experienced by Traveller and Roma women and children, we regret that its associated action plan lacks targets, indicators, outcomes, timeframes and budget lines to do so.

The State plans to set up a dedicated DSGBV Agency to drive improvements in this area – it is essential that the agency engages with Traveller and Roma organisations in an active and meaningful way and sees the development and resourcing of special measures to ensure safety and protection of Traveller and Roma women and children.

The National Roma Needs Assessment found that 20% of Roma in Ireland are living in ‘extreme’ poverty and many are unable to access basic social protection. Many Roma are unable to obtain social protection payments due to the way the European Directive 2004/38 on the freedom of movement and residence is implemented. In the Irish context, this requires applicants to meet the Habitual Residence Condition (HRC).

The Roma Needs Assessment found that 49.2% of households with children were unsuccessful in their application for social protection payments, and therefore were not receiving Child Benefit (a universal monthly payment for all children in the State) or other crucial supports.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has identified that the application of the HRC to Child Benefit is a human rights issue, particularly impacting children from migrant, Roma, and Traveller backgrounds as well as asylum seeking children. It is also contrary to international human rights law. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits any discrimination between children on the basis of the status of their parents, and requires that all decisions (including social welfare decisions) must have ‘the best interests of the child’ as a primary consideration.

We are asking the Government to make Child Benefit a truly universal payment that is not contingent on the fulfilment of the Habitual Residence Condition.