This is national Traveller Pride Week. There are so many different issues one could raise but a particularly vulnerable group are those Traveller women in prison in Ireland. Traveller women are between 18 and 22 times more likely to be in prison than a non-Traveller woman like me. In the general female prison population, 85% have addiction issues and 60% of sentenced women have mental illness compared with 27% of men. This is compounded by the scourge of short sentences being used by the courts. Some 90% of female prisoners are in prison for less than 12 months as compared with 70% of men, meaning it is impossible to address addiction or mental health issues that underlie so many issues. Traveller women's specific pathways to drug use and crime are absence of community supports, domestic violence, partner involvement in crime, and rates of perinatal death and bereavement. They are a particularly vulnerable group and one that has to be named in the Dáil. There has to be a response. The penal reform policy is due and I ask if the Taoiseach can provide an update on it.

There is a need for a comprehensive review of the needs of the Traveller community. I met recently with members of the Traveller Visibility Group who had particular concerns around a growing crisis in mental health among young Travellers in particular. Across all policies, be it housing, criminal justice, health or education, I believe we need a comprehensive review and to listen and engage more with Traveller representative organisations. Without question, that applies to the issue the Deputy has raised and I know the Minister for Justice will respond to that. However, there is a broader issue, it seems to me, following engagements I have had with the Traveller community that we need to comprehensively review. There is an otherness developing. Basically, the stock approaches are not working.