Madam, - We feel we must respond to Fintan O'Toole's column of April 4th in which he queries the wisdom of asking an ethnic question in the census.
Pavee Point is one of the non-government organisations that lobbied for such a question. Why? Because in every aspect of Travellers' lives there is a paucity of basic information on which to base an evaluation of any progress made. The impact of this data gap on policy development and implementation has been raised in the recent report from the High-Level Group on Travellers and by the Office for Social Inclusion in its progress report on the National Action Plan Against Poverty and Social Exclusion.
So why not just ask a question about Travellers? you may inquire. In the last census this was indeed the case as the CSO felt it had insufficient time to pilot an ethnic question. In keeping with best practice the CSO will not include any new questions until it has consulted on their content and tried them out through a test sample.
Pavee Point believes it is important that this question is asked of everybody and that everybody answers it. The rationale for this is simple: to ask it only of the minority ethnic groups, of the "other", could easily compound people's sense of exclusion from mainstream society.
Just as GLEN, at the launch of its recent report, called for the day when being gay or lesbian was not seen as something outside of the "norm", Pavee Point looks forward to the day when ethnic diversity is seen as an integral part of Irish society and potentially an integral part of being Irish.
The categories of the question may strike some people as odd, as they did Mr O'Toole. In a question of this nature and in a society changing as rapidly as Ireland it was important to structure the question so that additional categories could be added, if necessary. This could be done without changing the basic structure of the question as it has broad headings under which sub-headings are listed. It also reflects the question used in the North, so that the data would be comparable.
The importance of including questions dealing with the issue of skin colour is necessary to capture the realities of black Irish people in particular, whose issues are rarely raised in popular discourse even with a growing awareness of cultural diversity within Irish society. This framework was a compromise and reflects of which ethnic groups were aware. The inclusion of a heading, "Other" gives people an opportunity to write in their own identity if the boxed headings are not relevant.
Pavee Point has produced a DVD on this question which has been sent to Traveller organisations and community groups around the country to explain to people the importance of filling in this question. In order to plan and evaluate accessible services good data is essential. This is particularly important in an increasingly diverse Ireland. So we call on everyone to answer this vitally important question in our struggle for an inclusive Ireland. - Yours, etc,
RONNIE FAY, Director, Pavee Point
Travellers Centre,
North Great Charles Street,
Dublin 1.