Horse-ownership ‘almost spiritual’ for Travellers and should be accommodated in housing

Horse-ownership is “almost spiritual” for some Travellers, has saved the lives of many and should be accommodated in Traveller housing, an Oireachtas committee heard on Thursday.
Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, said he had “got into trouble” in the past for emphasising the importance of horses to Travellers when calling for “culturally appropriate” housing for the community.
Mr O’Flaherty, who was elected to the position in January, told the committee on issues affecting the Traveller community that he wanted to stress “the normality and the correctness of a Traveller who wants to have a horse having a horse”.
Given how intrinsic travelling, in the past by horse-drawn caravan, was to the Traveller identity, horses were “part of the culture”, he said.
“But a few times this week in conversations with [settled] people the horse is seen as a problem rather than a positive expression of identity. That really has to be sorted out,” he said. Culturally appropriate housing and “not just accommodation in a generic way” was necessary to vindicate Travellers’ rights in housing, he said.
Mr O’Flaherty said “one of [his] top priorities” in his new role would be “supporting the human rights of the Roma and Traveller communities” who numbered 12 million people across the 46 member states of the council but were “typically pushed to the very edge of our societies”.
He was on a fact-finding mission to eight member states, including Ireland, to hear from the communities.
During a visit to Limerick this week, he said he was with a Traveller woman as her son took a horse out. “She said to me: ‘It’s the horse that is keeping that boy sane’.”
The level of “casual racism” towards Travellers and Roma was “very deep” and needed to be “called out”, he added.
“I think it is so deep we are not even fully aware of the extent to which it affects how we act, how we react … I very much welcome the continuation of the efforts to amend the hate crime legislation and I very much hope the hate speech dimension will be addressed following the period of reflection that I understand is now under way,” he added.
Fine Gael TD David Stanton said: “Having a horse is almost spiritual. I have met some Travellers in the past who said the horse kept them alive. Dealing with the horse and looking after the horse kept them mentally well.”
Senator Eileen Flynn said the World Health Organisation had identified horse-care as “really good for people’s mental health. It’s important we understand its importance not only for our culture but for some within our community it can and does save people’s lives”.
Mr O’Flaherty referred to the mental health “crisis” among Travellers and said he had visited many graves in Limerick of Traveller men who had died by suicide. He said a “massively disproportionate number of Traveller children” were “subject to reduced timetables” in Irish schools.
“In effect it’s no education. How on earth can you get an education when only in school for an hour or two at most a day? Its overuse in the context of Traveller children is very worrying. We don’t have segregation in the Irish education system thankfully but the reduced timetable is as detrimental as segregation,” he said.