Anti-trespass legislation, used to prevent Travellers stopping overnight on public land, should be reviewed immediately, while reforms of the work permit system should be completed as rapidly as possible, the Council of Europe has said.
The council's advisory committee on the protection of national minorities, which has just published its second opinion report on Ireland, also calls for greater resources for the Equality Tribunal.
Published at the end of last month, the report has just been released by the Government. President of the committee Alan Phillips said Ireland was the first country to make its opinion public and called on other countries to follow the "positive example".
The committee's opinion pays considerable attention to Travellers. The first of its six recommendations is that the authorities "ensure Travellers' representatives' effective participation in various bodies dealing with Traveller issues".
It says Travellers are discouraged "from seeking mainstream employment by discrimination, hostility and fear of rejection".
On Traveller accommodation, the committee says the authorities here have paid "considerable attention" to the issue and it welcomes the adoption of Traveller accommodation programmes by local authorities. However, it says "the implementation of the accommodation programmes continues to be hampered by various factors, and many local authorities have failed to meet their own targets in this area".
It "considers that the lack of appropriate halting sites continues to be one of the key problems". The committee says it finds "particularly disquieting" the fact that legislation, which criminalises trespass, has been used against families waiting for local authorities to house them.
The Government's National Action Plan Against Racism, introduced last year, is described as "impressive".
