Remarks by President McAleese National Association of Travellers Centre’s Conference
Remarks by President McAleese National Assn of Travellers Centres Conference “The Voice of the Traveller in an Inclusive Society
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an–áthas orm bheith i bhur measc anseo ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
Hello everybody. It is good to be here, thanks to Martina Breen’s kind invitation and to be able to reciprocate that warm welcome by offering the visitors from Canada and from Britain our traditional céad míle fáilte, a hundred thousand welcomes.
We live in a democracy. We have a written Constitution and it says that all citizens shall be held equal before the law. It speaks of assuring the dignity and the freedom of the individual. It speaks of a true social order. It sets out our vision as a people to live in a country where everyone counts and everyone feels they count. From our history we know what it is to be silenced, to be overlooked, ignored, to feel and to be powerless. We know the unfairness of it and we know the wastefulness of it. So Ireland has a vested interest in ensuring that the voice of travellers is heard. It is part of our ambition to complete the republic of equals we set out to create.
An inclusive society is a just society, a society that values the contribution of every human being to the furthest limits of their potential and helps them to reveal that potential. It means listening attentively and respectfully to all those constituencies that make up our very complex country. It means being careful to ensure that some voices don’t drown out others, or that some fester in silence because they can’t find the space or the confidence to have their say. It also means putting your case, being active citizens who express their views, engage in dialogue and listen to the views of others in a search for better ways to live together and better ways to flourish as individuals and as a society.
Historically travellers have faced serious problems in articulating their case and in being listened to. For a long time both traveller organisation and traveller education were weak but that story is changing and changing for the better. Weakness in organisation led to poor advocacy, poor communication. Weakness in education made those things much worse and also cut travellers off from employment and training opportunities, not to mention the social integration, which could have strengthened them as individuals and as a group.
Two decades ago, virtually no traveller children transferred from national school to second level. It was unheard of for traveller young people to go on to college or university. That story is no longer true and today the genius of young travellers is revealing itself in many different ways. But there is still a very long road to travel before the remarkable opportunities Ireland has on offer today are fully accessed and used by the traveller community. There are obstacles, things that hold the community back, things within the wider settled community and things within the traveller community and both need to be dealt with if the road ahead is to be much easier than the road already travelled, as we wish it to be.
I have been fortunate to meet many of the movers and shakers within the traveller community; the people who have figured out what the obstacles are and who have set themselves an agenda of shifting them, the traveller women who have gone back into education, developing themselves and in turn helping other travellers to understand the need for good education, good health care, freedom from domestic violence. I have met the travellers who have been involved in complex consultations with local government agencies to bring about sensible and decent housing provision, who have worked hard to introduce the settled community to the strengths and richness of traveller culture and identity, who are day and daily trying to build barriers of trust where once there were big gaps of ignorance and fear.
The big challenge in the modern world is to find a comfortable place for traveller culture and the traveller way of life and at the same time to make sure that traveller men, women and children get the chance and take the chances to make the very best of their talents, energies and skills, making the fullest contribution to traveller community and to the wider Irish society.
This conference will hopefully help us all to a better understanding of what we all need to do, together and individually to bring that situation about sooner rather than later. It offers the opportunity to imagine the kind of society we could have if the traveller experience was one of full social inclusion with a confident, respected voice in a comfortably culturally diverse society. The continuing development of leadership and representation from within the Traveller Community will be crucial as will increased mainstreaming of awareness by state organisations of traveller needs and traveller culture. The greater the open and frank engagement with the wider settled community, the better for all of us who dream of that completed republic, that true social order in our lifetime.
I want to thank all the delegates for helping Ireland to move forward to that day. I look forward to reading the report from your work here and of listening to the voice of Ireland’s Travellers as it makes its distinctive contribution to a modern, dynamic, successful Ireland, characterised by peace and prosperity that is not just for some but for all.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.