FAS is to develop the equal opportunities section of its registration forms in order to focus on Travellers, the director of the Equality Authority, Mr Niall Crowley, told a conference on equality legislation and Travellers yesterday.
Mr Crowley told the conference, organised by the Southside Partnership, that this would allow for a tracking of Traveller progress through FAS provision.
Mr Crowley said that data on Travellers attending FAS courses were sparse, AS provision. which meant there was no proper basis for good policy-making. Initiatives to address this situation were therefore welcome, he said.
A survey of the Customer Action Plans of Government departments found no specific proposals on the needs of minority groups, including Travellers, Mr Philip Watt, director of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Multiculturalism, told the conference. In July 1999, a survey was undertaken by the Institute of Public Administration of 23 Government department policy plans. Of these, 20 referred to users of Irish as a specific customer group, 22 to people with disabilities, and only three to minority ethnic groups, including Travellers.
"Government departments are about to review and update their Customer Action Plans and it is to be welcomed that the Taoiseach has given strong indications that the needs of minority ethnic groups, including Travellers, should figure much higher in the delivery of quality customer service," said Mr Watt.
Mr Aidan Lloyd, co-ordinator of an EU-backed project on the integration of disadvantaged groups into the labour market, told the conference that Travellers did not get much work in the mainstream economy. Their economy was reliant on movement, he said.
He told the Irish Times that there was a need for employment trainers to be trained to understand cultural differences.
For example, the Traveller economy prized flexibility, or being able to switch from one career to another. He said that, given the labour needs in the economy, Travellers were now entering the labour market, especially in areas such as catering.
He said that there was scope for Traveller involvement in activities such as recycling, which would allow the Government to mesh its EU obligations on recycling with drawing Travellers into the economy.
Mr Lloyd also criticised the "Sean and Sheila live in a house" bias of the educational curriculum and said there was no coherence in educational policy. He said that whole-school evaluations would allow for identification of the needs of specific groups, such as Travellers.
Travellers were very interested in education from the point of view of personal development, and sought to be involved in primary education. However, second-level education was seen as being focused on careers in the settled economy. "In some instances, Travellers have jumped second-level education to go straight into third level, to become service-providers for their own community," Mr Lloyd said.