Travellers and Roma in Ireland:

Travellers refer to the approx. 35,000 Irish Travellers living in Ireland, who were officially recognised as a minority ethnic group in 2017. Roma refers to those who identify as Roma in Ireland, approx. 4,000-5,000 people. This includes migrants and second and third-generation Roma, many of whom are Irish citizens.

Key problems:

In 2017, Travellers and Roma continue to be among the most marginalised groups in Ireland. Census 2016 found that 13.3% of Traveller females were educated to upper secondary level or above, compared with almost 69.1% of the general population. A 2017 report using data from Census 2011 reveals an unemployment rate of 82% among Travellers aged 25–64 years, compared to 17% for non-Travellers. A survey conducted with Travellers in 2017 suggests that many Travellers feel that their situation has regressed. 69% of respondents had been affected by suicide in their immediate or wider family. A National Needs Assessment of Roma in Ireland found that approx. 10% of respondents are living in extreme poverty, in sub-standard accommodation, with no bathroom, kitchen or cooker. For this group of respondents accommodation is overcrowded, with reports of rats, damp and sewerage problems. Approximately 50% of respondents reported not always having enough food, and fuel or being able to keep their house warm all the time.

Irish National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) 2017-2021 (Department of Justice and Equality, in English)

RCM Coordinator:

RCM coalition members:

RCM 2 (2021-2025) reports:

Roma Civil Monitor (2022) Civil society monitoring report: lessons learnt from implementation of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021, and recommendations for the post-2022 strategy in Ireland. ENGLISH

Poster presenting main findings of the report (2022)

RCM 1 (2017-2020) reports:

Roma Civil Monitor (2017) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Ireland: Focusing on structural and horizontal preconditions for successful implementation of the strategyENGLISH

Roma Civil Monitor (2018) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Ireland: Assessing the progress in four key policy areas of the strategy. ENGLISH

Roma Civil Monitor (2019) Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Ireland: Identifying blind spots in Roma inclusion policy ENGLISH

Roma Civil Monitor 2017-2020 country fiche: Ireland

Non-RCM resources on Traveller and Roma in Ireland:

Rachel Mullen & Niall Crowley (2022) Implementation of Traveller Policy: Terrain for Imagination and Challenge. Pavee Point.