Pavee Point appears before Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children
Pavee Point News Release
10 March 2009
Pavee Point appears before Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children
Travellers working for the health of their community will appear today before the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, highlighting the issues of Travellers’ poor healthcare situation and the continuing under-allocation of Traveller Health funding to on-the-ground services.
The meeting will inform members of the Dáil and Seanad of the work undertaken by Traveller Primary Healthcare Workers in forty projects across Ireland, and tell the good news story of the underway All-Ireland Traveller Health Study. In addition, they will welcome the first year of the Intercultural Health Strategy.
Travellers and Traveller groups are concerned that money, apparently allocated to Traveller Health has not been allocated to actual service provision for Traveller health. According to information to be presented to the Oireachtas by Mr. Martin Collins, a Traveller man and Assistant Director of Pavee Point, out of a potential €2m for Traveller health development funding 2007-2008 €1.8m was used to balance the HSE books. Pavee Point will argue that this is unacceptable, and immoral, given the health status of the Traveller community.
Speaking in advance of the meeting, Missy Collins, a Traveller woman whose work in the 1990’s led to the establishment of Travellers working as health and well-being workers on sites all over the country, said:
“Travellers, particularly Traveller women all across Ireland have been working for years to improve the health of the community, but it has been hard work. We’re coming to the Oireachtas today to tell the politicians of the good work, and also the problems, in the hope they can do what they can to make the job easier and stop Travellers dying so young.”
Notes to editor:
- The delegation will consist of a majority of Traveller speakers, led by Ms Ronnie Fay, Pavee Point Director.
- The All-Ireland Traveller Health Study is a survey of Traveller families across Ireland, North and South. It is conducted by UCD, with peer research undertaken by Primary Health Care workers who are Travellers. More information is available on http://pavee.ie/ourgeels.
- Members of the delegation will be available for interview before and after the appearance at the Oireachtas Committee. The meeting begins at 3.00pm.
Contact: Ben Archibald, Information Co-ordinator: 0858490065
Contact: Martin Collins, Assistant Director, Pavee Point: 0879898819