Launch @ 9.30am on Tuesday 30th May 2023 at the Woodstock Hotel, Ennis
Minister of State at the Department of Rural & Community Development, Joe O’Brien, will launch the Strategic Plan 2023–2026 on behalf of Clare Traveller Community Development Project (CDP) in Ennis on Tuesday 30th May.
Clare Traveller CDP is one of seven pilot projects supported under the Department of Rural and Community Development’s Pilot Project Community Development Fund.
Bridget Casey, Coordinator of Clare Traveller CDP, said
“The implementation of this Strategic Plan represents a great step forward and a great opportunity for the Traveller community in Clare. This document is very clear about the size of the challenge, and the very serious issues facing members of the Traveller community: in housing and living conditions, access to education and employment, the lived everyday experience of discrimination.”
She continued: “Tragic levels of mental health issues affect the community – most gravely reflected in the incidence of suicide and the ongoing threat of suicide faced by so many individuals and families in the Traveller community.”
A major report published in 2022,
‘Towards an Anti-Poverty Strategy for Clare’, found that Travellers in Clare are disproportionally impacted by homelessness, particularly hidden homelessness, while Travellers as a group are over-represented in the homeless population nationally.
Bridget Casey concluded: “Despite the size of these challenges, and the extent of need on all fronts, Clare Traveller CDP provides a beacon of light, through which significant and long overdue improvements in conditions and opportunities can be created for Travellers in Clare. This plan provides a framework and guidance for the way forward in achieving this.”
For more information or comment, please contact:
Bridget Casey / 086 0478722