Eileen Flynn calls for State apology for 'how Travellers have been treated' following taxi incident

Senator Eileen Flynn said Ireland has a long way to go to tackle racism. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

A senator has told the Seanad that Ireland has a long way to go to
tackle racism in this country.

Eileen Flynn raised the issue after an experience she had with a taxi driver on Wednesday night that she said left her feeling like she would never be good enough.

She also called for a State apology for Travellers for “how Travellers have been treated our whole lives underneath the Irish laws and legislations that were put in place to keep us down as a community”.

Ms Flynn, who is the only member of the Traveller community in the Oireachtas, told how the driver had refused to bring her to her home in a halting site.

She said she tried to resolve the issue with the driver, explaining that she is a public representative and would not do anything that would cause harm to him or jeopardise her job.

The driver still refused and Ms Flynn informed him that if that was the case, she would not pay the fare.

"He said, 'I'm going to ring the guards' and I said, 'no actually, I'm going to ring them because you are the one that is committing the crime, not me'," she said.

Ms Flynn explained the situation to the Garda operator and was told that the matter was a waste of Garda time.

The driver then relented and agreed to take Ms Flynn to her home, only if the operator remained on the line.

"If I went on to be the president of Ireland or a top surgeon, or whatever you may want to go on to be, no matter what you are or no matter who you are, to a lot of people I am still just a member of the Traveller community," she told the Seanad.

I'm still just a pikey, a knacker, somebody who came from absolutely nothing and last night I felt that right to the gut of my stomach.

"Thinking 'oh my God, you are never going to be good enough in society, no matter what you do'."

Ms Flynn said that while she welcomes steps being taken to tackle racism, such as the upcoming hate crime legislation, Ireland still has a long way to go.

"To not be brought where you need to go and to not be judged on the basis of everybody in the community. We don't judge settled people and even the gangs that we are seeing nowadays.

"We don't come along and say 'you are all the same' but unfortunately, when you are a member of the Traveller community even in 2023, even if you are a senator, no matter what you might be you will experience racism and discrimination."

She encouraged people who find themselves in a similar situation to do as she did, and call the gardaí.

State apology

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Friday, Ms Flynn said she was not naïve and was aware that people in all walks of life had similar experiences, but instances like this happened “once too often” to Travellers. 

Take away food delivery companies also sometimes refused to deliver to halting sites, she said, and up to 10 years ago there had been occasions when ambulances refused to do so.

When asked why, despite the upcoming legislation, Travellers were still being “othered” and treated as different to other members of society, she said: “I think it goes right back to back to the foundation of the State, the State discrimination under the Itinerant report of 1963 that’s laid out for Travellers. It's shaped how we've been treated in today's world.

“And basically, to be fair, there was no good piece of legislation put in place that would protect minority groups. We are a multicultural country in general, and we should be able to protect all of our people in the country, that includes members of the Traveller community.

“I will say hate crime legislation is coming up before us in the coming weeks and hopefully some of our amendments will be accepted from the Civil Engagement Group. And then I know Minister Joe O'Brien has allocated €1m to community organisations to be able to tackle racism."

Ms Flynn said there is a need to tackle the problem and educate people.

"We talk about suicide rates within the Traveller community, obviously there’s going to be high suicide rates when people are constantly rejected, refused from society. Look at our unemployment, our education as people think Travellers are really on the edges of our society and very little is done about it. Nobody's been held to account.

“We should get a State apology really to how Travellers have been treated our whole lives underneath the Irish laws and legislations that were put in place to keep us down as a community”.

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