National Traveller organisations have joined together to call on candidates and voters alike to INCLUDE Traveller priorities in this month’s General Election.

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muižnieks, makes a strong statement on Travellers and Roma in the wake of the Carrickmines fire tragedy while this week the Council of Europe Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma Issues visits Dublin to inform themselves on the empowerment and participation of Roma and Travellers. STRASBOURG 04/02/2016 In October […]

Recommendations released today by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) urge the Irish state to address discrimination against Traveller and Roma children and to recognise Travellers as a minority ethnic group. A third of the Committee’s recommendations focus specifically on Traveller and Roma children. The committee repeatedly highlighted their concerns about […]

Traveller Men’s Action Plan held its second planning session this week since its launch last December.  Traveller men from the whole Eastern Region participated in this practical and positive event. The first part of the day saw over 35 Traveller men receiving various health screening checks and being introduced to many services working on men’s health […]

Our report, launched today, shows that mental health services for Travellers are inadequate and that there needs to be a much more targeted approach to combat a suicide rate that is 7 times the national average. Traveller Health Worker, Michael Collins speaking at today’s launch of the report ‘Young Pavees – their Mental Health Needs’ […]

 Patrick Reilly, of Pavee Point’s Violence Against Women Programme spoke today at the launch of its first Strategy Statement by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. He called on the Government for progress on human rights for Travellers highlighting Traveller ethnicity and accommodation rights. “More than a decade after the UN Committee on the […]

Pavee Point calls for a moratorium on evictions and on the use of Housing (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 2002 – Trespass Act – which can be used to confiscate property and prosecute Travellers on the side of the road. The issue of evictions is not unique to the Traveller community, but it is particularly acute for this group […]

Pavee Point calls on Environment Minister, Alan Kelly TD, to intervene as a matter of urgency to compel Louth County Council to provide alternative accommodation for 17 Traveller families evicted from a halting site in Dundalk today (15th January 2016) The families were evicted from a Traveller local authority halting site that had been decommissioned […]

Pavee Point is continuing its work with the Census office in the run up to the Census 2016 on the 24th of April. This week we delivered an information session to Central Statistics Office Regional Supervisors. These are the key people involved in the Census. They manage the 400 Census Field Supervisors (who then manage […]

“Recognising Travellers as a minority ethnic group would be a major step for Traveller children,” said Kathleen McDonnell, Pavee Point who is attending the  examination of Ireland’s report before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva today (14th Jan). “Every child has the right to have their culture respected and valued.  This is […]

This week’s decision by Judge Mary Larkin to jail 10 Traveller parents for failing to send their children to school highlights the importance of protecting education as a human right. Pavee Point is committed to the attainment of human rights for all Traveller and Roma children. All children have the right to an education and […]

Martin Collins of Pavee Point spoke today at the launch of ICCL’s ‘Your Rights. Right Now’ – a new audit on Ireland’s human rights performance. The report endorsed  by 17 NGOs, trade unions and civil society groups led to calls for the implementation of recommendations from the last review and further recognition of human rights. […]

This week’s Health Information & Quality Authority (HIQA) recommendation to move from universal to selective BCG vaccination against TB for high risk groups raises concerns.  A serious concern is that the Government acts to improve Traveller living conditions. Why are Travellers a High Risk Group? Firstly, it is important to understand why Travellers have been […]

Pavee Point’s Hilary Harmon held a workshop at INTO’s conference to review DEIS – Poverty and Social Inclusion in Education at the week-end. Hilary presented a workshop ‘Ensuring Inclusion:  The challenges for Traveller and Roma children in Education’ and highlighted the role that ethnic data can play in improving educational outcomes for all children including […]

Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland, Sec Gen of Council of Europe with Martin Collins, Pavee Point and Joe Jones, UK Gypsy  Council at COE meeting in Strasbourg. A new dialogue mechanism within the Council of Europe is giving Roma and Traveller initiatives working at national and local level a voice in Europe. “This shows new energy and […]