That is according to the Free Legal Aid Centre (FLAC), which today launches a new dedicated Traveller Legal Advice Service.
Established in co-operation with a number of Traveller groups, it aims to engage with the law to combat discrimination and advance the rights of Travellers.
Chief executive of FLAC Eilis Barry said it is wrong that funds for Travellers are not being spent by local authorities:
“There is... legislation which is intended to address the range of accommodation and needs of travellers in terms of transit, halting sites and to require a whole programmatic process of planning, funding and delivery by local authorities and central government, and that just hasn’t occurred.
It is really problematic that funding which has been made available isn’t being used.”
Ms Barry said that as things stand, a number of laws currently discriminate against a Traveller lifestyle:
“There’s also quite repressive legislation such as the criminal trespass legislation, which in effect criminalised the nomadic lifestyle of travellers, and there’s also legislation which allows for forced evictions in certain situations.”
