I am sure the Tánaiste is aware that today is International Human Rights Day and in that respect, I draw his attention to the survey by the Vienna-based European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, FRA, on conditions for Traveller, Roma and Sinti communities across six EU countries. On Monday, the results of this survey were published. They point to a truly awful situation, with 31% of Irish Traveller households and 28% of Traveller children living in acute poverty. The rate of poverty here is the highest across the six nations surveyed. One in ten Travellers are in households where at least one person went to bed hungry in the past year. A full 65% experienced discrimination, again one of the highest levels in the six countries studied. The survey found that 70% of Travellers aged between 18 and 24 were not in further education and just 17% of women and 13% of men were in employment, mainly in part-time or precarious jobs.

This is an indictment of a society with what can only be called racist attitudes towards Travellers and Roma. It is an indictment of a State that has failed 7% of its population and of the political parties that have dominated government and local authorities since the foundation of the State. The treatment of Irish Travellers can be compared to the scandalous and inhumane treatment of women and children incarcerated in mother and baby homes and industrial schools. At the very least, they are entitled to an apology from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and a clear and precise condemnation of those politicians who, if not fostering it, are accommodating anti-Traveller bias.

This is particularly the case in the appalling record of local authorities in providing Traveller accommodation. On Monday morning, in response to this survey, Mr. Michael Collins of Pavee Point said that €69 million of funding for Traveller accommodation has not been drawn down since 2000. At least 45% of the funding for this year has not been drawn down by local authorities. While the Travelling community make up 7% of our population, some 15% of that community are homeless. The facts speak for themselves. Local authorities are not prepared to stand up to anti-Traveller sentiment. The issue needs to be taken out of their hands. We need a central government agency to take on this key question and to deliver. I will support this issue in the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community.

I repeat my call for the Tánaiste to give an apology to the Travelling community for the fact that this is still happening three years after 1 March 2017, when Traveller ethnicity was recognised. I also call for serious action to tackle the multitude of issues the survey has identified.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue on a very appropriate day. I have not seen the survey. I will take a look at it. I have no doubt that its contents are correct. It certainly rings true for me, given my experience, and I am sure it rings true for many in this House. There can be no doubt that Irish Travellers have, for generations, faced a huge degree of disadvantage and discrimination solely by reason and virtue of their birth. They have suffered discrimination in employment and in housing. This is reflected in higher levels of poverty and lower levels of educational attainment.

I do not think it is fair to say that no action has been taken or that Government has done nothing in recent years. I am proud to have been a member of the Government that took the decision to recognise Traveller identity and ethnicity three years ago. That was not done by a party of the left or a different government but the Government led by my party, Fine Gael, alongside the Labour Party. We have also announced some changes in the way in which Traveller housing funds are to work. These were announced by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, only the other day in acknowledgement of the fact that local authorities perform very poorly indeed in providing Traveller accommodation. The Minister has indicated that the system is going to change. Instead of money not being drawn down every year, as it often is not, a new system is to be put in place which will make sure that more Traveller-specific accommodation is provided in the years ahead.

A lot is also being done to ensure a greater focus on Traveller and Roma health and on providing educational opportunities for people from the Travelling community. While the numbers may be small, it is good to see more and more Travellers finishing secondary school, making it to third level and availing of those educational opportunities.

Professor Michael O'Flaherty, director of the Vienna-based European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, described the issue of housing for the community as very worrying. Some 73% of Travellers surveyed said that they had experienced housing discrimination. Professor O'Flaherty has said that "EU-wide Roma and Travellers are experiencing a perfect storm of fundamental rights deprivation and challenge" and that the findings of the survey pointed to a "profound underachievement of strategies". In some ways, the Tánaiste has made my case. There have been reports, submissions and recommendations with regard to the Travelling community but very little has been implemented. He is right that some areas, such as public health units for Travellers, have improved a bit, but not to the level they should have. The fact that this report indicates that Ireland is probably the worst in all areas is a damning indictment of the State and its attitude towards the Travelling and Roma communities for decades.

The Tánaiste has not given an apology. I expected one. I will continue to pursue such an apology from both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael now and in the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community. The fish rots from the head. Unless we get leadership from the top, we will not get change at the bottom. That has to change.

I believe we have seen that leadership, namely, the decision made by the last Government, led by Fine Gael, to recognise Traveller ethnicity and identity, greater investment in public health, which the Deputy has acknowledged, more educational opportunities and the decision made by this Government, first to appoint a member of the Travelling community to the Seanad, which we all welcome, and the decision to change the system in respect of the allocation of housing moneys because local authorities have not been delivering the goods with regard to this issue. I absolutely appreciate that much more needs to be done and that the progress made in recent years has been inadequate. There are many different reasons for this. It is a bit simplistic and populist to just blame it on the Government. The discrimination Travellers face in our society is deeply ingrained and there are a lot of reasons for it. It is wrong, however, and it is the duty of Government to respond to it.