Category: News

European Roma Week, now in its fourth year, took place this year alongside European Week against Racism March 18/21 due to the upcoming European Parliament Elections. Both were significantly enhanced by the involvement of Soraya Post a Roma MEP from Sweden who was elected by the Feminist Party. A number of other Roma MEPs also […]

The World Community Development Conference took place in June 2018 at Maynooth University.  The conference focused on Participation, Power and Progress.  Delegates from all over the world came to reflect on diverse practices and on research and contexts all over the world. The report on the conference is now available – click on image below […]

Report by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has condemned Romania for racist police brutality, and for the first time, found that Roma face institutionalized racism from law-enforcement in Romania. The case was brought by Roma who were brutally attacked in a police raid in 2011. They were represented […]

Nearly 80% of Travellers in a survey in South Dublin say they themselves or someone in their family has suffered from depression.  This compares with just 8% of the general population who reported symptoms of moderate depression as per Census 2016. The Clondalkin Traveller Development Group’s report recommends mental health services to prioritize targeted efforts […]

Tessa Collins, Senior Community Development Worker in Pavee Point, addressed the 7th International Roma Women’s Conference as part of a workshop on hate crime and evictions of Travellers and highlighting their impact on Traveller women. “The impact of local authorities not spending the Traveller accommodation budgets allocated to them is devastating, particularly for women and […]

A  meeting took place with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris at Pavee Point where Garda relations with Traveller and Roma were the main focus of discussion. Commissioner Harris acknowledged the potential for institutional racism within a police force which he is familiar with through his work in relation to the McPherson Report 1999. The poor relations […]

Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre welcomes that all main political parties signed up to the Anti-Racism Electoral Protocol launched today by the European Network Against Racism on International Day For the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “We cannot be complacent about racism in Ireland,” said Pavee Point Co Director Martin Collins, “This is also a […]

Today, on International Women’s Day, the Government took a significant step towards protecting the rights of women in Ireland by ratifying the Istanbul Convention. The ratification of this Convention comes after years of campaigning by NGOs including the Irish Observatory on Violence against Women, which Pavee Point is a member. The Council of Europe Convention […]

“Traveller Women need to take the time to look after their own health,” says Mary Collins, Traveller Community Health Worker, “Health and well-being go together. Traveller women are taken up with looking after their families and sometimes they forget about themselves.” Traveller Community Health Workers work in their own communities raising awareness about health issues, […]

New Film on Traveller Women ‘The Changemakers’  is a documentary by the National Traveller Women’s Forum that looks at some of the changes  Traveller women have succeeded in bringing about – for themselves, for their own community and for the wider population.  It was shown in Leinster House house this week in celebration of International […]

While the Government achieve an overall ‘C’ grade in Report Card 19, published by the Children’s Rights Alliance a low grade, ‘D-’, is awarded in relation to Traveller and Roma Children. This represents a small but significant decrease on the ‘D+’ attributed last year. Homelessness “While there has been welcome progress on the National Traveller […]

We were delighted to get to meet Health Minister, Simon Harris TD last week (21 Feb) and to get his endorsement for the Traveller Health Action Plan. Crucial to the success of this plan is the establishment of a Planning Advisory Body for Traveller Health (PATH) which should be staffed and resourced to ensure the […]

There has been no tangible improvement in the education, accommodation, employment and health of Travellers and Roma  despite the Government’s National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy launched in June 2017,  a report to the European Commission states. Accommodation Worse According to this report, the inequality gap between Travellers and Roma, and the majority population remains […]

Pavee Point received two ‘plain English’  awards this week for our maternal health initiative – Pavee Mothers, awarded by the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA). Our booklet Pavee Mothers was awarded 2nd place out of 70 nominations in the Best Use of Plain English by an Organisation category . Our website paveemothers.ie  received a “highly […]

Pavee Mothers was part of the showcase of HSE Excellence Awards which took place in the Mansion House last week.  Our project, is a phone friendly website developed with  Traveller women for Traveller women with information to support mothers-to-be during and after pregnancy. The awards reflect the high quality of work being undertaken with the HSE.  […]

Bianca Paun, representing Pavee Point’s Roma programme, addressed the Holocaust Memorial event in the Mansion House to talk about the experience of the Roma people at the hands of the Nazis. The Holocaust known as Parajomas in the Romani language meaning ‘the devouring’  saw an estimated 500,000 Roma murdered by the Nazis. https://vimeo.com/313812059 Damaris Paun […]

The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) published today its findings 2018 on the follow-up given by 8 States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal) to decisions in the collective complaints procedure. It says that none of the five issues on which the committee found against Ireland in December 2015 on Traveller accommodation have […]

Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre calls for legislation to be amended to ensure that temporary emergency halting sites should meet fire safety and planning regulations. A Terrible Time “This has been a terrible time for the Lynch, Gilbert and Connors families who have had to relive the horror of that night in 2015.  We […]