Traveller and Roma Children in Ireland Travellers are a minority ethnic group, indigenous to the island of Ireland. Travellers maintain a shared history, language, traditions and culture. Nomadism was an integral part of Traveller culture, but many Travellers are no longer nomadic, either by choice or due to the lack of support for and criminalisation of nomadism. The All-Ireland Traveller Health Study establishes the Traveller population at a little over 36,000 in Ireland. This figure represents less than 1% of the nation’s population. In 2011, there were 14,245 Traveller children in Ireland. This accounted for 1.2% of the total child population and 48.2% of the total Traveller population.

Historical and persistent experiences of anti-Traveller racism and discrimination have resulted in significant exclusion in the areas of health, accommodation, education, employment, and participation in decision making. Approximately 7 out of every 10 Traveller children (67.3%) live in families where the mother has either no formal education or primary education only (4.8% of children in general population live in families where the mother had either no formal education or primary education only). In 2011, 84.3% of Travellers were unemployed.

In a report on his visit to Ireland, Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that ‘Travellers have been subjected to discrimination and racism in the fields of education, employment, housing, healthcare, media reporting and participation in decision making.’

There is an estimated 5,000 Roma living in Ireland. There is a lack of initiatives developed to support Roma and an absence of data and coherent strategy for Roma inclusion in Ireland. Many families and children live in poverty;, deprivation; and precarious living conditions due to a lack of access to work and restrictive social welfare measures. For those who are unable to find employment or access supports options include reliance on charities and family or ‘voluntary repatriation’ to country of origin.

Recent cases involving Roma have also pointed to racial profiling. In two incidents in 2013 Roma children were removed into state care on the grounds of having fair skin and hair, unlike their parents. In both cases it was later discovered that these children were living with their biological families and the children were returned. This followed the high profile case of the young Roma girl, Maria in Greece, who had been taken into care. It is clear that wider stereotypes about Roma and negative media reporting provided a context in which these children were removed.6