Travellers make one-third of complaints to Equality Authority

ONE-IN-THREE equal status complaints received by the Equality Authority last year were made by Travellers.

Its chief executive, Niall Crowley, said: “What emerges is a pattern of very widespread and persistent discrimination being experienced by the Traveller community.

“It’s is not just about access to licensed premises, it is about access to employment, schools, housing and the health services.”

He was speaking at a conference on equality legislation in Dublin yesterday.

He said that while the law now provides a mechanism for individual Travellers to seek change, the process of turning individual gain into collective gain needs to be speeded up, he said.

Both the authority and the Irish Traveller Movement, who jointly hosted the conference, want to see statutory duties built into promoting equality.

Concern was also expressed at the transfer of jurisdiction of the Equality Tribunal to the District Court for cases involving allegations of discrimination against licensed premises.

The court does not offer the same accessibility in terms of no costs, its investigative role, right of audience and mediation option.

Irish Traveller Movement coordinator, Catherine Joyce, urged the Government to recognise Travellers as a minority ethnic group as it was obliged to do under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

She said almost 1,000 Traveller families were now living on the side of the road with no basic facilities.

“While significant progress has been made on providing accommodation for Travellers, it is predominantly local authority standard housing,” she said.

“We need to take into account culturally appropriate provision, design and the right of Travellers who choose to live with their extended family.”