Report calls for Travellers to gain work experience in public sector

Senator Eileen Flynn said the obstacles to labour market participation for Travellers were rooted in racism which required "a deep and multi-layered response". Picture: MAXWELLS

A programme of work experience and internships should be set up for Travellers in the public sector, including government departments, local authorities and state agencies, according to a new report on helping Travellers get into the labour market.

The report, launched today, also suggests that the network of Traveller employment liaison personnel should be expanded under the Department of Social Protection to act as 'connectors' between Travellers and employers, and that IBEC promote a model of local partnerships between private companies and Traveller organisations to create work experience and employment opportunities.

The research report, entitled Mincéir Misl’er a Tom Tober (Travellers Moving along the Main/Big Road) — Travellers in the Mainstream Labour Market, is being published by the St Stephen's Green Trust and based around interviews with members of the Travelling community as well as potential employees and others.

It highlights barriers such as the much lower level of education of many Mincéirí and experiences of "micro-aggressions".

 "These were in the form of overhearing workplace conversations that were hostile to, or negative about Travellers, or being addressed in patronising terms that identified them as somehow exceptional: 'you’re not like them (other Travellers)'."

In the foreword, Senator Eileen Flynn said the obstacles to labour market participation were rooted in racism which required "a deep and multi-layered response".

"I come from a community of people that are smart, hard-working and entrepreneurial, but rarely get a chance to prove their worth," Senator Flynn said. 

"Despite the myths and stereotypes, Travellers want to work but instead are massively underemployed."

In his foreword, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability Integration, and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, acknowledged that racism and discrimination were concerns that needed to be addressed and he stressed the importance of adult education.

"It is important that all workplaces foster and embed equality and diversity policies where Travellers can, if they wish, identify as being members of the Traveller community with pride, and without fear of experiencing negative comments or stereotyping," he said.