Statistical Spotlight: Young Travellers in Ireland

On 15 April, the Department of Children & Youth Affairs (DCYA) released a report on children and young persons who are members of the Traveller community in Ireland. The report is the fourth in the series of Statistical Spotlights, drawing together data from a variety of sources, including the Census, the Department of Education and Skills, the All Ireland Traveller Health Survey, Pobal, the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Survey, and the OECD PISA survey. The study covers a wide range of topics, including health, housing, education and economic status.

The analysis provides an important demographic mapping. Traveller children aged 0-4 represented about 1.31% of all children in Ireland in that age cohort in 2016. Galway County, followed by South Dublin, were the areas with the highest number of young travellers – in reference to individuals aged up to 24.

The study also improves our understanding of the issues facing traveller children and their families, so that policy and practice can be improved. The results show that young traveller mothers give birth to nearly twice as many children as all white Irish mothers, on average. Although progress has been made, infant mortality rates in travelling communities are still notably higher in comparison to the rest of the population. Striking discrepancies are also registered in regard to the educational level of mothers. 48.2% of traveller mothers whose youngest child is between 0-5 have no formal or primary education, which increases to 71% for mothers whose youngest child is between 18-24. Young marriage is also common, as almost 23% of Travellers aged 15-24 are married, compared to just 1.2% in the rest of the population. Lastly, traveller families are dis-proportionally affected by homelessness, as 11% of all families with dependent children accessing emergency accommodation were from the community – unsurprisingly, most of them were in Dublin.

On the other hand, Pobal data suggests that Traveller children have been availing of early years care and education. In 2017/2018, they made up 1.3% of all children attending ECEC services, which is in line with their share of the population. The total number of providers catering to these children has increased from 611 to 642 between 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, representing 16% of all services in both years. It is important to highlight this expansion, as an established body of evidence shows that disadvantaged children are likely to benefit significantly from good quality pre-school experiences.

Early Childhood Ireland’s work is underpinned by the Children’s Rights Approach, which believes that every child is born with fundamental human rights, which include the right to healthcare and education and the right to be treated equally. To enable members to include children from minority backgrounds, making sure that their culture and views are incorporated in the daily lives of settings, is integral to this, so as to make sure that traveller and other children are not left behind.