Politicians in Co Wexford have been accused of opposing efforts to accommodate Travellers despite the obligation placed on local authorities to address the issue.
Ms Mary Connors, a Traveller living in the county, told the Equality 2000 conference in Enniscorthy last week that immediate action was needed to provide basic services for Travellers in Wexford.
Ms Connors is a member of the local Traveller accommodation consultative committee, which is involved in drawing up a five-year plan to cater for the 200 Traveller families in the county in need of accommodation.
Under legislation introduced last year all local authorities are obliged to draw up and implement five-year Traveller accommodation plans, and to give Travellers an input into the process. Where politicians fail to agree on draft plans, county and city managers will be responsible for implementing them.
Ms Connors said this had implications for local democracy which she hoped politicians would take note of. In her experience on the Wexford committee there was scope for a relationship between Travellers and council officials, "but sadly the elected representatives have yet to fully engage with us.
"There are politicians who have made an effort to understand while there are others who, sadly, continue to conduct a campaign against Traveller accommodation outside of the council chamber.
"There continues to be a crisis in Traveller accommodation in Wexford, and while there is now a process in place to draw up a five-year plan a lot of work needs to be done right now as we have families without basic facilities such as water, electricity and sewerage while the Celtic tiger roars and eats up the less fortunate."
Ms Connors said Travellers who lived in council-provided accommodation had a negative experience of what could be done to change the current system. There was confusion among Travellers about the role of the council and what they could do to help themselves.
She said she hoped the Equality 2000 conference, as well as the work done to date by the consultative committee, would bring about a change in the relationship between Travellers and local authorities.
Organised by the Enniscorthy Travellers' Support Group, the conference provided a forum for Travellers and representatives of various State services, including gardai, health workers, teachers and officials of Fas, the Department of Social Welfare and Wexford County Council, to discuss ways of tackling institutional discrimination.
The chief executive of the recently-established Equality Authority, Mr Niall Crowley, told the conference that new and pending equality legislation presented challenges to public- and private-sector employers and providers of services.
Referring to the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Bill, which is expected to be passed before the end of the year, he said the challenge was to change and to realise the benefits of change.
"These benefits clearly flow to those who experience inequality, but it is important to highlight that the benefit is to everybody. Equality practices contribute to greater creativity from diversity, higher productivity from job satisfaction and cost benefits from social inclusion."
The Equality Authority, he said, would provide support to people who felt they had been discriminated against and, where necessary, prepare their case for eventual hearing in the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations, which has also just been established. "As such the Equality Authority should usually be the first port of call for those who feel they have been discriminated against."
The authority would work in consultation with all interests, including the State and business sectors.
"It will take time for the Equality Authority to gear up and mobilise our resources to full effect, to develop an expertise worthy of the title `authority', to make the inevitable mistakes and to prepare a strategic plan that will deploy our resources to best effect."