Independent Senator Collette Kelleher has proposed that legislation be introduced which would make it mandatory to teach Traveller history and culture in primary and post-primary school.
The propopal was announced at the launch of an Oireachtas Cross-Party Group to Support the Traveller Community.
Senator Kelleher, who is one of the Taoiseach’s nominees to the upper house, was joined by ten fellow members of the Oireachtas at the launch of the group which comprises representatives of all parties and none.
She said numerous reports had been published on the disadvantage and discrimination endured by Travellers and the initiative comes on foot of last year’s formal recognition by the State of Travellers’ ethnic identity.
A statement from the cross-party group cited research highlighting what it described as "grossly disproportionate outcomes" for Travellers here compared to the majority population.
It quoted from last year’s ESRI report which found that Travellers were over 50 times more likely than non-Travellers to leave school without the Leaving Certificate. The same survey found that only 9% of 25-34 year-olds had completed second level education compared with 86% of the general population.
Senator Kelleher said that discrimination and bullying has led to many Traveller children leaving school early.
She said that she would be seeking leave to introduce the Traveller Culture and Education Bill and proposing that its second stage be debated next Wednesday. The one-page measure proposes to incorporate Traveller culture and history into mainstream school curricula.
She said that, if adopted by the Seanad and the Dáil, it would be an important first legislative inclusion since recognition of Traveller’s ethnic minority status March 2017, by the former taoiseach Enda Kenny.
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Sindy Joyce, a Traveller who lectures in Travellers’ Rights at UCD, told the gathering that Government cuts to Traveller education in 2012 had reduced funding by 86%.
She said this was despite significant progress in Traveller education and resulted in the sector "going down to the bottom again".
The group also cited last year’s National Traveller Survey’s finding that seven out of ten Travellers said their community’s mental health had deteriorated over the last five to ten years and that four in ten were concerned for their own mental health. 82% said they had been affected by suicide in some way.
The report said there had been little change since the 2010 All-Ireland Traveller Health Study found that suicide rates were six times the rate in the general population, causing 11% of all Traveller deaths, most frequently among young Traveller men aged between 15 and 25.
It described the impact of suicide as "catastrophic" and highlighted racism and discrimination as the "globally acknowledged" fundamental contributing factor. The cross-party group noted that the Second Interim Report of the Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health found that it was "extremely important that a greater emphasis should be placed on Traveller mental health".
Thomas McCann, the co-ordinator of the Traveller Counselling Service, told the launch that many reports later, there is no dedicated Traveller mental health strategy.
He called for a partnership and plan for Traveller mental health with a ring-fenced and independent budget as a matter of urgency.
"We can no longer ignore Traveller exclusion as the root cause of the disproportionate incidence of mental health in the community," Mr McCann said.
This evening, leader of the Seanad Jerry Buttimer accepted the bill for discussion.
