Almost two in five Travellers would like to live permanently in a house or flat among settled people, a new national survey has found.
Most Travellers were satisfied with life in general and thought conditions had improved, but said they still face widespread discrimination and want better education for their children.
The survey - the first national research on Travellers' attitudes - was carried out late last year among 513 Travellers living in a range of accommodation from houses to roadside sites at 50 locations.
Its results were published yesterday during Traveller Focus week, which is part of the Citizen Traveller public education and awareness programme.
More than half the Travellers were educated to primary level and one in 10 to secondary level. Top among Travellers' wishes for the future were more participation by their children in secondary school, more full-time work for Travellers alongside settled people, more pull-on, pull-off sites and more mixing between Travellers and settled people.
About seven out of 10 Travellers said they had been discriminated against by pub owners, 40 per cent by owners of clubs and discos, 38 per cent by gardai, 37 per cent by shop owners, 33 per cent by county councils and housing authorities and 26 per cent by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.
At yesterday's launch Mr Fintan Farrell from the Irish Traveller Movement said the findings confirmed the importance of good quality accommodation to the well-being of Travellers and the need for a variety of types of accommodation.
Travellers living in temporary sites or on roadsides said they faced higher levels of discrimination and thought conditions had improved less in the past five to 10 years than for their counterparts living in houses.
The survey also showed strong feeling among Travellers that they are different from the settled community, especially their love of travelling and caravans, their language, beliefs in cures and superstitions and family histories.
Three out of 10 of those surveyed no longer travelled, rising to seven in 10 of those living on roadsides. Thirty-eight per cent said their preferred accommodation in the short or long term was a permanent house or flat among settled people. About one if five said they would prefer to live on a permanent halting site, while just over one in four would prefer a group housing scheme.
However, more than four out of 10 did not think they would ever be really happy living in the settled community. Just over half said they had been forced to move in the past, with a third saying this had happened three or four times or more.
Travellers living in group housing were the happiest overall, with 85 per cent very or fairly satisfied with life in general. This compares to 72 per cent of those living on a permanent halting site, 71 per cent of those living among settled people and 59 per cent of those living either on a temporary site or on the roadside.
Overall, almost two-thirds of all Travellers said their conditions were better today than five to 10 years ago. Nineteen per cent said conditions were worse and 20 per cent said there had been no change.