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Review laws on Traveller accommodation – FLAC

FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) has welcomed the recommendations made earlier this week by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights on improving the human-rights situation of Travellers and Roma in Ireland.

The organisation said that the issues highlighted by commissioner Michael O’Flaherty in his memorandum were consistent with the experience of its Traveller Legal Service and Roma Legal Clinic.

FLAC said that it was “especially pleased” to see that the commissioner’s recommendations echoed its calls for “meaningful legal changes in the areas of Traveller accommodation” in a submission to an Oireachtas committee on issues affecting the Traveller community last year.

It added, however, that the Government’s written response to the memorandum did not include any commitments to what it described as “the necessary law reform” in this area.

Eviction laws

FLAC’s managing solicitor Sinéad Lucey noted that O’Flaherty had called for the repeal of laws that allow for the eviction of Traveller families living on the roadside, with no procedural safeguards.

“A complete review of such laws is long overdue in light of the decision of the European Social Rights Committee against Ireland in relation to Traveller accommodation, and the decision of Supreme Court in the McDonagh case regarding the constitutional rights of Travellers living on unauthorised sites and who are facing eviction,” she said.

“While the Government response to the memorandum refers to the development of ‘protocols’ and several policy-based initiatives, nothing less than concrete law reform will suffice in this area if Ireland is to comply with our human-rights obligations,” Lucey stated.

She called for a new bill on Traveller accommodation to reform eviction law and deal with the planning, delivery, and standards of Traveller accommodation.

Minorities report

The FLAC statement came as a separate report from Council of Europe experts on national minorities also urged Ireland to improve the situation of Traveller and Roma communities, while welcoming progress on a number of issues.

The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities today (27 February) published its latest opinion assessing Ireland’s implementation of the convention.

It welcomed the recent adoption of various strategies and action plans – including the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2024-2028.

The committee said, however, that people from the Traveller and Roma communities, still suffered from “various forms of discrimination, prejudice, and institutional racism”.

Accommodation ‘major issue’

It stated that culturally appropriate accommodation for the Traveller community remained “a major issue” in Ireland, resulting in “further poverty, marginalisation, and social exclusion”. 

Echoing the O’Flaherty memorandum published earlier this week, it called for measures to address the over-representation of Travellers in prison for minor offences.

“Furthermore, the Traveller and Roma communities are significantly over-represented among the homeless population and many halting sites for Travellers are situated in environmentally hazardous and unhealthy areas,” the report added.

The committee also said that the Traveller community’s participation in public life “remains alarmingly low, despite some recent progress”.

Norma Foley (Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth) said that Ireland took its responsibilities to the Council of Europe “very seriously” and was giving “careful consideration” to the report.

A statement from the department said that most of the committee’s 30 recommendations would be put into effect as part of the national inclusion strategy.