Change needed in how gardaí deal with Travellers, says O'Gorman

The report found that Travellers’ trust in the Irish criminal justice system is extremely low and that fears of wrongful arrest, excessive use of force, wrongful conviction, disproportionately high sentences and wrongful imprisonment frame the way Travellers engage with and experience the criminal justice system. Picture: Julien Behal/PA Wire

Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman has said there needs to be a change in how An Garda Síochána deal with Travellers following a University of Limerick study which found that 91% of the Travellers surveyed feel disrespected by Gardaí.

“That's a really stark contrast, and it's very unsettling, everybody should feel confident in our police force”, he said..

“We know there has been ingrained prejudice against Travellers across all elements of Irish society for decades. And we see this being reflected in terms of Travellers concerns with An Garda Síochána.

“Changes that are happening in the Gardaí - both the training, but also I think the fact that members of the Gardaí are taking responsibility for diversity and inclusion issues at a more senior level - is really important.

“I think we need to see a change in the approach of An Garda Síochána. I chaired the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, which is about addressing prejudice against Travellers across all elements of Irish society.

“An Garda Síochána are part of that - so I think it's important just to monitor changes that happen in An Garda Síochána” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

The study found thattravellers are facing institutionalised racism in the criminal justice system, with members of the community accusing gardaí and even a judge, in one case, of prejudiced comments amid fears they are being racially profiled.

The study, which interviewed almost one-tenth of all Travellers in the country, also found that while Travellers are "over-policed" as suspects of crime, they are under-policed when they themselves are victims of crime.

The research, described as "ground-breaking" by the country's human rights watchdog, recommends a new independent complaints body and a new a criminal justice strategy for the Traveller community to address findings which the report's authors said were "incredibly distressing, and paint a depressing picture".

The Irish Travellers’ Access to Justice (ITAJ) report, launched on Thursday, is the result of 18 months of research carried out by a team at the University of Limerick. Part of the study involved speaking with one in every 100 Travellers in Ireland from 25 of the 26 counties.

It found that Travellers’ trust in the Irish criminal justice system is extremely low and that fears of wrongful arrest, excessive use of force, wrongful conviction, disproportionately high sentences and wrongful imprisonment frame the way Travellers engage with and experience the criminal justice system.

Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, writes in the report: "It is abundantly clear that the relationship between Travellers and criminal justice institutions is deeply problematic, and informed, as this research makes clear, by practices from both judges and gardaí which are grounded and founded in institutional racism."

Half of the Travellers involved in the survey were victims of criminal offences in the five years prior to the survey and a similar number of respondents had been present at home when gardaí entered without permission - but just 11% had a search warrant shown to someone present in the property.

Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, writes in the report: "It is abundantly clear that the relationship between Travellers and criminal justice institutions is deeply problematic." Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Almost two-thirds of Travellers who were in garda custody in the five years prior to the survey had not felt safe, while many also claimed they were racially profiled, with 59% of respondents saying they believed they were stopped because they are a Traveller.

The vast majority of Travellers interviewed for the study did not believe gardaí or judges respected them or felt that they had been treated fairly.

One of the lead authors of the report, Professor Jennifer Schweppe, of UL’s School of Law, said: “Our research shows that Travellers are simultaneously over-policed as suspects and under-policed as victims."

Dr Sindy Joyce, Lecturer in Traveller Studies in UL’s Department of Sociology, said: “The results of this research will come as no surprise to members of the Traveller community, whose experiences and perceptions of the criminal justice process are unequivocally linked to both their identity as a historically traditionally nomadic community, and their present-day status as a racialised indigenous ethnic group in Irish society."