Back to: Home > Publications > Archive Publications >

Presentation to AGM 2000

RACIAL EQUALITY DIRECTORATE

ITM AGM 2000 - Report on input by Sheila Rogers - The Equality Commission Northern Ireland

RACIAL EQUALITY DIRECTORATE
IRISH TRAVELLER MOVEMENT AGM

25 MARCH 2000

Thank you for the invitation – delighted to be here today. Fintan has asked me to talk about the northern experience in working to achieve equality for Travellers. I thought what I would do is:

give you a bit of background on what the law says in the north and how it came about;
talk specifically about our legal work on behalf of Travellers
tell you some of the other work we have been doing and our plans for the future.

Background

it seems that over the years Ireland, north and south, has not been very keen to tackle racism against minority ethnic groups here, including Travellers. It’s only now that you have some protection in the south under the legislation Niall has been talking about. We in the north were not that much ahead of you. It was only in August 1997 that we got the Race Relations (NI) Order, which for the first time gave legal protection against racial discrimination. Our friends in the rest of the United Kingdom had had similar laws for 21 years but the powers that be didn’t think we needed it in the north – there wasn’t a problem there; there wasn’t any racism. But people, particularly those subjected to racism, knew better and they worked hard to lobby for laws to protect them. They finally succeeded 2 ½ years ago. At the same time a new Commission for Racial Equality was set up.

A unique feature of the new race relations’ legislation was that it included Irish Travellers specifically as a racial group. The legislation says that the law protects:

The Irish Traveller community, the community of people who are identified by themselves and by others as people with a shared history, culture and traditions including, historically, a nomadic way of life on the island of Ireland.

Travellers are not specifically mentioned in the GB Race Relations Act.

It was clear to everyone at the new Commission for Racial Equality that the issues of concern to Travellers were so significant that they had to be placed high on our agenda from day one. And that is what we tried to do. The Commission said it would have three priorities for its first years of operation – one was on access to employment; the second was promoting equality and the third was issues in relation to Travellers. Getting results was easier said than done, however, for it wasn’t until a year after the Commission was set up that we had someone on staff who could devote time and energy to this work. So really it wasn’t until the autumn of 1998 that we started in earnest to develop work in the area. And what has happened since? Well, the major change has been the end of the Commission for Racial Equality; our functions were taken over last October 1^st by a new Equality Commission, which, like your new Equality Authority, is now responsible for all of the areas of equality – gender, religion, disability and race. At present the work on race is still being done by those of us who came from the CRE; we work together in the Racial Equality Directorate - but we are unclear what will happen in the future as there are plans to create a new structure which would be based around functions such as research, legal work, advice etc. At present, then, it really is a case of wait and see. However, we are committed to trying to ensure that racial equality issues are not lost.

2. Our legal work

let me move on to talk in a bit more detail about our legal work on behalf of Travellers. It’s fair to say I think that what matters to you and me if we are being discriminated against or subjected to racism as we go about our daily lives, is that we can do something about it – that there is someone somewhere who can help to get the discriminatory treatment stopped. Under the race relations legislation in the north we are able to provide legal advice and assistance to individuals who believe that they are being discriminated against. We offer initial information and help and then if the person wishes to proceed they have to make an application to the Commission which is looked at by a selected group of Commissioners and they decide if we will provide the person with a lawyer to take things a step further. Our legislation covers employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services, housing and accommodation and education.

Back in 1997 few people in the north knew about the new law or the help that was available. As a result it took time before people started to come to us with complaints but we have seen big changes over the past year. Travellers now make up the largest group that we are assisting with legal advice. At the end of February this year 167 individuals had come to us with a complaint of discrimination. 105 of these individuals are Travellers. All of their complaints are about the refusal of access to services, as follows:

59 shops
26 bars
9 other services such as housing benefit, credit union, mail
4 restaurants
3 hotels
2 other leisure facilities (bowling)
1 police

The majority (69) of individuals are from Newry. We believe this is so because there is a particular law firm in the Newry area and indeed a particular solicitor who many Travellers know and trust and are happy to go and see when they have a problem.

However, the legal process is a slow one and so there have only been a handful of cases, which have actually got to court. The first was in December 1999 on behalf of 2 couples who had been denied service in a bar in Newry. We at the Commission provided a solicitor and a barrister to help them put their case. All four individuals gave evidence saying that they believed that the only reason they had not been allowed into the bar was because they were Travellers. The judge delivered her verdict some weeks later and they won their case; the judge agreed that, but for the fact the 2 couples were members of the Traveller community, they would have been served. She awarded them compensation. Since it was our first case we were delighted it was successful.

The next case which we assisted involved a Newry family and JJB Sports – a large chain of sports shops. JJB Sports asked a young Traveller to leave the shop and followed this up with a letter to him saying that not only was he not to come back but none of the members of his family were to come into the shop again. This letter banning everyone was sent to the family on the advice of the personnel office for JJB Sports in England where, apparently, this kind of action is common. It was clear to all of us that this was discrimination on racial grounds against the entire family. Because our law does not allow class actions, each member of the family – 15 in all - applied to the Commission for assistance and we appointed a lawyer to represent them. The case on behalf of 10 family members went to court earlier this year and, recently, the decision was given. It is the first written decision in a Traveller case and it was in favour of the family members. The judge said: I believe discrimination has taken place in that the plaintiffs, who are members of a minority racial group, received a letter which would not have been sent in the normal run of events.” In other words the only reason they were sent the banning letter was because they were Travellers. One point, which we thought the pub was going to raise in the first of these cases, was asking the individuals to prove they were in fact Travellers – they lived in settled accommodation. In the end this didn’t come up but we may have to face that hurdle at some stage. There is a case in England, which will deal with the issue in July – Kiely and others –v- Punch Retail and others – where 8 customers were refused service in the pub. They say this is because they are Irish Travellers; the pub is saying that Irish Travellers are not a racial group and so are not covered by the legislation in Great Britain. Unlike in the North, the GB law does not specifically mention Travellers as a racial group.

We have also lost two cases – basically on the facts where the judges did not believe that what had happened had to do with the people being Travellers

One case is due to be heard on Monday in Armagh but has been adjourned. This was on behalf of two women who were not allowed to try on clothes; when they asked why they were told it was because the clothes were too expensive. A second case is listed soon in Derry. More than 50 cases are at different stages in the courts. There are 30 cases of Travellers against a shop saying they were denied access to the shop on the opening day. Up until now we have taken the view that we need to establish a body of case law in relation to service provision and the rights of racial groups not to be subjected to unlawful discrimination. However, it is all very well helping individuals who are experiencing racial discrimination such as the family I have just talked about but the Commission does not have unlimited funds to pay lawyers and at some point we may have to start saying No to cases which are straight-forward and where the law in clear. So we need to think of other ways of tackling institutional discrimination against Travellers. I am not suggesting that we will stop doing individual cases; just that we may have to be a bit more strategic about those we assist. Let me outline briefly for you some of the ideas we have been thinking about doing in the next year or so:

Access to information and advice - I mentioned earlier that the majority of our complaints have been coming from the Newry area and that this is because of the presence and interest of one particular lawyer. Although we have now been contacted by Travellers from Coalisland, Belfast, Portadown, Cookstown, Armagh, Omagh, Derry and Strabane the numbers are small and we want to think about ways in which to get the message out there that protection from discrimination is available. We are realistic enough at the Commission to know that we are a bureaucracy, based in the centre of Belfast, staffed by people who, for all our good intentions, do not understand the difficulties people are facing on the ground on a daily basis. I think there may be a better way to help people access the help we can provide by creating links with the community rather than sitting back and expecting people to come to us. We currently have someone doing research into the need for community based advocacy services; this piece of research should be finished in early summer and hopefully will tell us what the communities themselves want in terms of how we deliver a service to them. We have already done some work with the Chinese community in the north by providing training for their community and health workers so that they can give initial advice on the law and how to make a complaint and then act as the link between the individual and the Commission.
There is an urgent need to educate service providers such as pub and restaurant owners, shops, hotels, clubs and other leisure services about the law and how they should behave toward their customers. I will be speaking at the licenced trade association AGM in April in the north. All of their members will now be aware of the two recent cases in Newry and of the others, which are listed for hearing in the future. I intend to outline for them the major provisions of the law and tell them that stereotyping people and refusing them service simply on the grounds of the racial group to which they belong has been found to be against the law and they may end up having to pay out their hard earned cash if they act in this way. I will tell them that the Commission intends to produce a guide for service providers, which will tell them what is, and what is not good practice. The aim of this will be to change behaviour and stop unlawful discrimination against Travellers and other minority ethnic groups before it starts. Something I say last Wednesday evening in my local off licence might be a reaction to the recent cases. There was a sign on the till which says – “we reserve the right to refuse anyone without giving a reason.” We believe that this is happening not only in off licences as we have had an increase in the number of calls to the Directorate from Travellers – in relation to shops and petrol stations refusing service and saying we don’t have to tell you why. If service providers think that this may protect them from a complaint of discrimination the y may be wrong. They can be asked in the statutory questionnaire or in court what the reason is for refusing someone service and if they refuse to say then the court can be asked to infer that the reason is related to the racial group of the individual who has been refused.
Solicitors and barristers are new to the whole field of racial equality and race discrimination cases and there is work to be done to educate the legal profession generally on issues of discrimination affecting Travellers so that, individuals will have access to supportive and knowledgeable legal help throughout the north.

Other work

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that our only interest has been in relation to individual complaints about access to services. In fact we have been trying to tackle problems at a number of levels and in a number of ways. Let me run through some of them before I finish.

As I am sure you know there is an ongoing problem about the lack of adequate site provision in the north. In one case we have involved us provided financial support for technical and legal experts to represent the Travellers Group at a planning enquiry in Craigavon. We were able to do this using the section of the legislation, which allows us to assist an organisation, which is “concerned with the promotion of equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups”. The enquiry is due to be completed in April but it has highlighted what may well be institutional discrimination within the planning system and, indeed, we have been asked by those concerned about this to carry out a formal investigation into the whole sorry affair. We will be getting counsel’s opinion on whether or not we should proceed in this way.
Promoting social inclusion is a Government initiative, which aims to target marginalisation and need in the North. Two working groups – one looking at issues in relation to Travellers and the other on minority ethnic issues generally have been set up. We are involved in both. On the Traveller group we have a representative on the policing sub-committee and the education sub-committee. The working group report is due to be released in the near future together with an action plan.
Grants – we have provided a number of small grants to Traveller support groups for example for the production of a 2000 calendar, the purchase of library materials, the preparation of a development plan and we contributed to the north/south seminar which you held with TM Northern Ireland around the question of nomadism and the possibility of a joint research project.
A good practice guides in education is being prepared at the moment and will include recommendations on tackling inequality and discrimination. Also the development of a Code of Practice on Accommodation is planned for early next year.
We have just completed a piece of research into health care, which I plan to use in writing a good practice guide in primary care. The continuing need to take seriously the needs of Travellers in the North was highlighted once again by our researchers who say:

The health experience of Travellers in Northern Ireland and the associated poor sanitation and general living conditions is more reflective of the health experience of a developing country than of a western European country…One must surely ask how the needs of Travellers have not been given greater priority despite the existence of hard evidence.

Media – we have been concerned for some time about the way the media covers Traveller issues; generally it is very negative. We had a piece of research done, which looked at coverage and made recommendations to editors on good practice. Copies can be forwarded to anyone who is interested. Also, we are shortly to meet with representatives from the Press Complaints Commission to discuss Traveller issues.

Conclusion

I hope that I have given you a flavour of some of the ways in which we have been trying to deal with systemic and institutional discrimination against Travellers and other racial groups in the north. We in the Race Equality Directorate of the Equality Commission believe strongly that we won’t successfully tackle racism and racial discrimination through the more traditional approaches adopted in relation to religion and gender discrimination in the north. A community development approach is we believe more appropriate and more likely to get results. Of course there will always be a need for us to assist individuals who have suffered discrimination but we must also be prepared to confront and challenge the systems and policies which are established, often without consultation or even consideration of the actual needs of communities. I believe that this will have to happen if we are ever going to make a real impact on the day-to-day lives of marginalised groups or those who suffer discrimination and racism.