This research commissioned by Pavee Point in 2019 but due to COVID only recently completed, confirms, as Pavee Point’s presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness in 2016 did, where we highlighted that Travellers are living in severely overcrowded situations, Traveller homelessness was invisible and Travellers were being left out of specific measures to deal with the homelessness crisis in Ireland.

The research confirms this and using the ETHOS typology (as per the CSO) this in effect, means that almost half of Travellers (39%) are homeless. Traveller homelessness is not captured in the Dept of Housing annual accounts, the government does not collect data on ethnicity in such systems as PASS and homelessness is not included in Traveller Accommodation Programmes or the National Traveller & Roma Inclusion Strategy.

Pavee Point is grateful to the researcher for all the work done and data made available. We are particularly grateful to all who contributed their time, and experiences which made this possible.

We will be further using the research data which is already in the public domain and has been presented to the National Traveller Health Network and in policy submissions. Based on the data derived from the research we will be developing an accessible advocacy paper on Travellers and homelessness for use by all who wish to avail of it in their ongoing work. 

We are determined to impress on the Government and the Local Authorities the need for the State to step up to the mark and deliver on improving the living conditions of a shocking percentage of Travellers who struggle with homelessness and the Traveller accommodation crisis.

Having reviewed it ourselves and also had observations from the HSE which provided the funding, Pavee Point decided not to publish the full text at this point. The research as currently written requires considerable edits and modifications to make it accessible for the readers and users for whom it was intended. 

Our commitment to immediate use of the data to generate accessible advocacy tools is outlined above. We will return, when time and resources permit.

We are determined to impress on the Government and the Local Authorities the need for the State to step up to the mark and deliver on improving the living conditions of a shocking percentage of Travellers who struggle with homelessness and the Traveller accommodation crisis.