Pavee Point welcomes the acknowledgement of the issues facing Travellers in the report by the ESRI and IHREC ‘Monitoring Adequate Housing in Ireland’.
The report acknowledges the ‘significant disadvantage’ experienced by Travellers in accommodation including over-representation of Travellers among the homeless and overcrowding experienced by Irish Travellers.
As the report states this disadvantage impacts on people’s ability to hold employment, participate in education, and otherwise engage with civil society. The report also acknowledges the impact of inadequate housing on poor mental health, poor physical health, precarity, and homelessness.
In terms of our international commitments the situation of Irish Travellers and the dire living conditions that some Irish Travellers face each day – is a blight on our international reputation,” says Martin Collins, Co Director, Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre.
“This report shows that not only Irish Travellers but other ethnic minorities in Ireland face similar problems. Do we want the gap between our ethnic minorities and the general population to grow? If not we need to take radical steps to equalise the situation.”
We welcome the focus on data collection in this report. Pavee Point has spearheaded calls for data on ethnicity to be collected in all the State’s data collection systems and have been working with the CSO on a question on ethnicity in the Census since 2006.
“We saw with COVID-19 that we need data on ethnicity, as a society, to make sure that we have a true picture of the experience of Travellers and other ethnic minorities,” said Mr. Collins. “In this way we can help eliminate barriers and create conditions for everyone to have a decent home and a healthy place to live.”
