Traveller community faces "out of sight out of mind" culture in Northern Ireland

Q Radio News

Northern Ireland's nomadic Travellers are still getting a raw deal, according to a major new study.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has published the first major report on the subject in Northern Ireland for almost a decade.

The Commission has identified 13 systematic concerns and made 45 recommendations.

(Chief Commissioner, Les Allamby)

According to Chief Commissioner Les Allamby: "Travellers face the unpalatable choice of living in poor conditions to retain their culture or moving into standard social housing at the expense of their way of life.

"We have found example of inadequate facilities such as washing units not fit for purpose in the Northern Ireland climate, fire and other health and safety issues that need to be remedied. The Commission is concerned that legislation, policy and a lack of service provision amounts to an attitude of 'out of sight out of mind'.

"The report is directed at key Northern Ireland government departments which have a responsibility to provide a decent standard of living for everyone in Northern Ireland. It also makes recommendations to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in order to improve the management of Travellers' accommodation and local Councils to prevent unnecessary delays in dealing with planning applications. The Commission has found an erosion of nomadic life through the policies and practices that have been developed and applied to Travellers and Travellers' accommodation. This needs to change".

A traveller interviewed during the course of the investigation commented on the cultural adequacy of Travellers' accommodation:

"All travellers are square pegs and (the public authorities) are trying to place them into round holes".

Another traveller commented on the isolation they faced through moving into bricks and mortar:

"There's nothing to do...you walk out the door of a caravan everybody's there, but you walk out the door of a house and there's nobody there".

Chief Commissioner Allamby added: "We would like to thank the Traveller communities in Northern Ireland for assisting the Commission with this investigation. We would also like to thank all the public authorities for co-operating and commend the Traveller support groups for their ongoing work. Over the next 12 months we will implement an extensive follow up plan with the key public authorities alongside, Travellers and Traveller support organisations to push forward the changes that are now required to improve the situation and protect human rights"

The report's being welcomed by Craigavon Traveller Support Committee project manager Lisa Hogg ...

She says Traveller families feel excluded, isolated and marginalised....

And Lisa has this message for those who have no sympathy with the plight of the Traveller community...

The investigation identified 13 systemic issues these include:

Inadequacy of Travellers’ Sites

Some Travellers’ sites are inadequate in the provision of standard services and facilities (electricity, water, heating, drainage, sanitation, waste disposal). This is particularly true of Travellers’ sites intended as transient in nature, but that are operating as permanent sites in practice. The lack of effective management of Travellers’ sites exacerbates these problems.

Legal Framework

Domestic laws and policies regarding Travellers’ accommodation in NI largely satisfy human rights requirements. However, the existence of the Unauthorised Encampments (NI) Order 2005 has a disproportionate impact on the Traveller communities and threatens their nomadic culture.

Racial Discrimination

There is evidence that Travellers have been subject to discriminatory behaviours and attitudes from public authorities and the settled community. This emerges through actions, but also through inaction and general inertia regarding Travellers’ issues. Negative public opinions and bias towards Travellers also impacts negatively on Travellers, in particular concerning planning applications.

Provision of Traveller-specific Accommodation

There is insufficient culturally adequate Travellers’ accommodation available. In particular, the NI Housing Executive is failing to provide sufficient adequate Travellers’ sites. Its actions and inaction suggest a preference for developing and maintaining bricks and mortar accommodation, over Travellers’ sites.

Resource Availability

While the NI Housing Executive maintains it is satisfied with the resources available to it for developing and maintaining Traveller-specific accommodation, the existing accommodation is insufficient to the need. In addition, spend per pitch has been reducing on an annual basis.

Resource and Policy Accountability

The Department for Communities allocates funding to the NI Housing Executive, but there is no robust mechanism in place for the Department to monitor how funding is allocated to Travellers’ accommodation and what outcomes are being achieved.

Participation

Efforts to ensure the participation of Travellers in decision-making processes regarding accommodation by public authorities are ineffective and inadequate. There is a lack of emphasis on supporting Traveller advocates. There is also a heavy burden placed on Traveller support groups by public authorities, in terms of the roles they are expected to fulfil. These groups are also under-resourced for both their contracted role and remuneration for the additional uncontracted assistance sought by public authorities.