Council of Europe experts on national minorities have called on Irish authorities to improve the plight of the Roma and Traveller populations, reports RTE.
The most recent judgement from the Advisory Committee for the Protection of National Minorities evaluates Ireland’s adherence to the Framework Convention, a treaty that aims to safeguard the rights of members of national minorities.
Overall, the Advisory Committee believed that diversity was still respected in Irish society, reports RTE.
The long-awaited National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2024-2028 was among the many strategies and action plans that were recently adopted, and it was warmly received.
The National Traveller Health Action Plan was likewise praised as a timely, beneficial, and well-received program.
However, it said that the majority population’s views of the Traveller and Roma populations, who “still suffer from various forms of discrimination, prejudice and institutional racism,” conflicted with the “generally positive atmosphere in the country,” reports RTE.
It claimed that providing the Traveller population with culturally suitable housing was still a significant problem in Ireland, leading to increased social isolation, poverty, and marginalisation.
It recommended that anti-Traveller and anti-Roma racism be explicitly addressed in the 2023 National Action Plan against Racism, reports RTE.
It also noted that there was a lack of confidence in the gardaà and that racist attacks against Roma and Travellers were greatly underreported.
In addition to pointing out the disproportionate unemployment rate and significant health concerns among travellers, such as the high rate of suicides and mental health disorders, the experts recommended that the over-representation of travellers in jail for petty charges be addressed, reports RTE.
The committee believed that more should be done to assist the traveler economy and traveler-led social businesses.
The report noted that Roma and Traveler populations are “significantly over-represented among the homeless population” and that many Traveler stopping sites were located in unsanitary and ecologically dangerous regions, reports RTE.
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