Research launch: ‘Implementing the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty for the Traveller Community in Ireland’

28 Feb 2023

“It’s been nearly a decade since the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 came into effect. As we can see from statistics and research, very little has changed for Travellers in Ireland. If equality is to be achieved, we need action not words. Travellers must be visible in the plans of all public sector bodies, and Travellers must play a real part in the development of those plans.”

Bec Fahy, Travellers of North Cork (TNC)

On February 28th, the Travellers of North Cork (TNC) and the UCC Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (CCJHR) launched research on the varying levels of implementation of the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty and Traveller’s experience of daily racism and discrimination in accessing a wide range of services, such as employment, education and accommodation. 

In launching the report, Bernard Joyce, Director of the Irish Traveller Movement stated: “This research shows that a national focus is needed to drive changes and greater enforcement powers for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and comes shortly after the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth endorsed ‘Terrain for Imagination’, which paves the way for how effective implementation of Traveller policy can happen locally and nationally. The Public Sector Duty should be a template for good practice in that regard, and there are very many tangible recommendations in this report.”

The research was conducted in partnership with Travellers living in North Cork, and is the first research specifically examining the implementation of the public sector duty for Travellers, set out in s.42 of the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission Act 2014. While recognising examples of good practice, the report also identified significant disparity in the level of detail provided by public bodies, and Travellers who participated in the research identified an uneven application of the public sector duty by public sector bodies. Key recommendations include:

• the need for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) to conduct a national-wide analysis of the implementation of the public sector duty for Travellers in Ireland, and
• for public sector bodies to proactively identify and address any equality and human rights issues arising within their service and provide clear publicly available reports that demonstrate the measures taken and progress made in rectifying the issues.

The report, funded by a grant from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), is intended to complement and expand on the IHREC guidelines on implementing the public sector duty published in March 2019, and in particular to increase awareness and understanding of the statutory obligations on public sector bodies towards Travellers.

The report was launched on Tuesday 28^th February 2023 by Bernard Joyce (Director of the Irish Traveller Movement). Other members of the panel were: Margarita O’Driscoll (Traveller Community Health Worker, TNC); Denise Baker (primary researcher); Bec Fahy (CEO, TNC); and the event was chaired by Dr Dug Cubie (School of Law, UCC and Director of the CCJHR).

The report can be downloaded from the CCJHR website: www.ucc.ie/en/ccjhr/publications/ and from the Travellers of North Cork website: https://tnc.ie/reports/