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Travellers are a small indigenous minority, documented as being part of Irish society for centuries they identify themselves as a distinct community and are seen by others as such. Nomadism has been central to the development of their distinct characteristics, traditions and values, which are evident in their organisation of family, social and economic life. (Crowley, 1999) There are approximately 5,200 Traveller families or an estimated 31,000 Travellers in Ireland, and there are currently 1200 Traveller families living on the roadside with no facilities. (Department of Environment 2000) Travellers in Ireland have been subject to racism at both the individual and the institutional level, which is reflected in outcomes for travellers in terms of accommodation, health, education, and employment. Official policy in recent decades has shifted from viewing travellers as deviant and in need of integration to viewing travellers as a distinct ethnic group. There have been a number of major official reports on Travellers, The Commission on Itinerancy (1963), viewed nomadism or itinerancy as a problem to be addressed which could be solved by rehabilitation and assimilation. “What was defined as Travellers failure to live according to the norms of the dominant groups was to be corrected”. (Crowley, 1999, p. 247) Report of the Travelling People Review Body (1983), represented an advance on previous policy logic by defining travellers as an ethnic group, however it still saw issues as being mainly about integration with the settled community. The Task Force on the Travelling Community (1995) report established current policy thinking by recommending that the distinct culture and identity of Travellers should be taken into account. (Crowley 1999) The study of Travellers has brought about a significant change in social policy and reflects new thinking in terms of understanding and response to the Traveller community. Crowley (1999) argues “a significant gap between policy making and policy implementation remains to be bridged before the potential of this new policy context can be realised in a definitive improvement in the status and situation of the Traveller community”. (p. 263) During the past four decades a number of voluntary organisations were established to focus on the on the plight of travellers. This trend changed over the years in that travellers had begun to organise themselves and became politically active in lobbying for their rights. In 1990 two organisations were set up, The National Federation of Travelling People and The Irish Travellers Movement. (ITM). Both organisations were active in focussing government attention to areas of particular relevance to the travelling community, for example, health, education, accommodation and employment. Regional networks of the ITM aim to increase Travellers participation and offer support at local level. Funding was designated to support locally defined area-based action plans. Pavee Point, established in 1994, “is funded as a positive action flanking measure to support and advocate appropriate inclusion of travellers in local plans”. (Crowley, 1999, p. 254) Pavee Point is a voluntary, or non-governmental, organisation committed to the attainment of human rights for Irish Travellers. The group is comprised of Travellers and members of the majority population working together in partnership to address the needs of Travellers as a minority group experiencing exclusion and marginalisation. The aim of Pavee Point is to contribute to improvement in the quality of life and living conditions of Irish Travellers, through working for social justice, solidarity, socio-economic development and human rights. The work of Pavee Point is based on two key premises. · Real improvement in Travellers living circumstances and social situation requires the active involment of Travellers themselves. · Non-Travellers have a responsibility to address the various processes which serve to exclude Travellers from participating as equals in society. In addition to these premises Pavee Point act according to the following principles. Human Rights, all people, including travellers, should have access to resources which enable them to meet basic human needs, to reach a socially acceptable standard of living, and to live with dignity in society. Social Solidarity, this must be based on efforts to bridge the divisions and inequalities based on wealth, power and social status. Traveller solidarity involves developing alliances among and between Travellers as well as with different sectors of the non-Traveller population. The Report of the Task Force on the Travelling Community (1995) identified mediation as a strategy of reconciliation between Travellers and settled people and in response to this Pavee Point established a Mediation Programme to help support better relationships between Travellers and settled people by encouraging members of these two communities to develop creative responses to conflict and to find new ways of living with cultural difference.
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