Eileen Flynn
Administrative Panel · Independent · Ireland
“Today, I want to make it very clear that using the platform of a Senator to imply that Traveller problems can be solved by extra patrols and public warnings is not courage.”
“This Senator has years of experience and apparently is all about equality and equality for the Irish people, but obviously not for Irish Travellers. Members cannot use their platform in these Houses to promote hate towards our community.”
“Travellers know what it means when politicians make a habit of standing outside our sites, pointing cameras at our homes and speaking as though true criminality is somehow written in our blood. When a Senator invokes Garda patrols in the same breath as warning Travellers, it does not feel like a concern for safety.”
“I want to bring to the attention of the House that this week is Traveller Pride Week. It runs from 18 to 29 May. Events will be happening up and down the country. We are hoping to have an event in Leinster House in two weeks' time with the Traveller committee. It will be a meet and greet with members of the Travelling community.”
“I welcome this motion and thank the Fianna Fáil Senators for bringing it forward. I notice there are few men in the Chamber. We need men to be part of the discussion of this issue. I want to highlight that. The zero-tolerance strategy committed to delivering at least 280 refuge spaces by 2026.”
“We need protection for women. I have had to put safety measures in my family home where I am trying my hardest to rear two lovely children. I am never going to be the same public representative that I was four weeks ago. The Garda has been absolutely brilliant.”
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“I was sitting at my kitchen table listening to the young woman saying that she had scoliosis and did not know much about it. I wondered how this child got to the age of 16 without being diagnosed or receiving proper treatment. Now, she will have to go an adult hospital and be treated as an adult. That is unfair when she has been failed by the system. To be diagnosed at 16 years of age is appalling. For years, she was complaining with pains in her back and it was put down to kidney infections. We do not believe that would be the case if she was from the general population. We can talk about all the services in the world and say we want this fit-for-purpose service for young people and adults with scoliosis but there are no people to do the job. We do not have the resource to do the job.”
“I speak in support of the Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024, which aims to create a proper national service for scoliosis treatment. It will make the HSE legally responsible for finding and treating people with scoliosis quickly. I do not want to repeat what others have said. I welcome the Bill and thank Senator McDowell and his team for bringing this important Bill forward. Last September, there were 249 patients on the waiting list, with 11 waiting between 18 and 24 months and seven waiting between two to four years to get this important operation. Like any other community, within the Traveller community, we have children with disabilities. About five weeks ago, I met a 16-year-old girl who just got diagnosed with scoliosis.”
“As I have said numerous times in this House, poor women and women from ethnic minority groups are not looking for handouts. What we are looking for are hand ups. We need wraparound support. Mental health is a major crisis in our community. I look forward to working alongside the Minister to tackle mental health issues. Traveller women carry the load in our community, which puts a lot of pressure on them. It would be brilliant to work with the Minister to support Traveller women in every way we can and ensure they can access health and have good quality healthcare in this country.”
“Working-class women do not have the same equality of opportunity as women from a richer class. I heard another Senator speak about going to a GP paying €50 to €70, depending on where the GP is based, for access to a medical service only to be told, “It is all in your head.” Women are very undermined in the healthcare system in Ireland and that should not be the case. I know the Minister is well-placed in her role. I look forward to working with her in the future. I would love to be able to lower the CervicalCheck age limit, especially for Traveller women who get married younger than women from the general population, sometimes at age 15 or 16. The age for CervicalCheck should be lowered to 20. There should be more supports.”
“The number of women and children who are homeless in this country is absolutely appalling. It is important to have statements on women’s health but last week I called it an inaction. Why could we have not have gone out and visited women living in hotels, who are in refuges, who are really in the pits of Irish society and do not feel supported? These statements mean absolutely nothing and it is unfortunate to be a woman who is really struggling to feed a family of six or a big family. In the Ireland of 2025, we speak about women around the world who have less equality of opportunity, but it is also unfortunately the case for many women in working-class communities and women from the Traveller community. I know we talk about the three Cs – childcare, confidence and cost – we need to add the fourth C as soon as possible, which is class.”
“Women from the Traveller community need an awful lot of support when it comes to reproductive healthcare and postnatal healthcare so Traveller women can trust in the system. I know from being a member of the Traveller community when I was pregnant with both Billie and Lacey, I was just seen as the Traveller. I did not have any idea about what was going on with my own body and my child at the time. I have spoken about it in this House before, and know from many Traveller women. After I had Billie I had severe postnatal depression to the point where I once wanted to take my own life. I did not want to go to the health system because I did not trust it. I thought my child would be taken from me. Unfortunately, this is the case for many Traveller women today.”
“The Minister is very welcome to the House to discuss women’s health. I have heard many Senators speak about period products being available in toilets it, and it really annoys me. I have never in my whole life heard a poor woman give out about not having period products. It does not fix the health inequalities within Irish society. I welcome it of course, as do poor women, but this is not my first time to say in the House that we should stop being the do-gooders and saints of poor women within Irish society. Give us the opportunities to do it for ourselves. As Senator Ruane said when we were voting for the Leas-Chathaoirleach, put us women who have had fewer opportunities up front because we are well able to do the jobs. Women in prison need healthcare.”
“I call for a debate on special places in education. There are still hundreds of children who have no access to special education. Every child should have a right to education but what we are seeing is that, if a child has special needs or severe autism, that right is no longer accessible to that child or the child's family. I am working with a family from rural Donegal who cannot get their child a space in the school for September. It is a serious discussion we need to have in this House. I would welcome a debate on special additional education in this country with the Minister, Deputy Foley, as soon as possible. Cherish all the children of the nation equally, but when it comes to special and additional needs, we do not do that. A child not having equal access to education should be against the law in 2025 Ireland.”
“It is not up to women alone to debate women's rights. Men also have a part to play. Next week, I would welcome the male Senators taking part in the discussion on women's rights.”
“I have said so many times that it is not about taking from women who are rich, have had the best education and have equality of opportunity to be successful in all walks of life but it is about giving women on the edges of society a hand up. It is about reaching out to those women and bringing them with them. We are all talk in this House, and now will be the fifth year, with statements that do not do anything meaningful for women who are homeless, who are escaping domestic violence and who are living in poverty, etc. I am seeking a debate on women's health in this country and what we can do to make the health system a little more bearable for women. We need a health service that all women can trust, whether for psychological or medical help, etc. I ask every man in the House to be mindful next week.”
“This morning as I was coming in, I thought about next week and International Women’s Day. For the last four years in this House, and this year will be the fifth, it will be a day off for the boys and us women will be up talking about equality for women, including many women who do not have a clue about some of the inequalities that women on the margins of society go through - women who are homeless, who are escaping domestic violence and who struggle every day to feed their children as they live in the depths of poverty. These are women who do not have equality of opportunity and who are lucky enough to end up in the Houses of the Oireachtas or any big job or role in society.”
“As Senator Ruane said in the previous Seanad, again, "it is people with nothing fighting for nothing." I heard a Senator reference policing by consent. I have seen many cases where it was not policing by consent. It is where gardaí kick down a door at 5 o'clock in the morning, just go in, vanish through a house and terrorise the people in those houses. Again, that is not consent policing. Some communities are absolutely overpoliced. We have to have a bigger conversation on keeping communities safe. The only way we will keep all communities safe is by dealing with poverty and some of the crises in this country.”
“We all have access to school but it is unfortunate we do not see people from some communities being successful within the education system. Over the past two years, we have seen an increase in danger within Ireland when it comes to violence on the streets against people from ethnic minority groups and migrants. We hear the word "foreigners" being used. Something Senator Ruane said in the previous Seanad still strikes me today; these are "people with nothing fighting for nothing." This comes from the Government. While communities are looking, and starving really, for accommodation, employment, equality of education and equality of healthcare in this country, we are putting one community against the other. That suits the Government, unfortunately, but it does not suit communities.”
“If people are surrounded by walls, are part of a run-down community that is not looked after by local authorities - even in wider Ballyfermot and putting halting sites aside - are treated like prisoners and are let live like prisoners, they may begin to behave like they are in a prison. I do not want to repeat what anybody in the House has already said, but it is not all the responsibility of the justice Department. Again, we need better wraparound mental health supports in this country, especially for young men, but for young women as well. We need people to have full employment. We talk about Ireland never being as great with employment, but more than 80% of members of the Traveller community are still unemployed. In other parts of Ireland as well, unemployment is still a big issue.”
“As Senator Ruane said, it is about poverty. We cannot police our way out of poverty. The Minister of State is here in respect of justice, but we need a bigger conversation around health and access to health services for people from marginalised communities, in addition to services around addiction and rehabilitation. Drug addicts were mentioned in the debate. A person addicted to drugs can absolutely destroy a family and the community around him or her. I see that with members of my own family, unfortunately. Poverty is a vicious circle. The halting sites in this country all have big, massive walls and very run-down ramps and gates. It is like people are living in prison.”
“The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. Senator Gallagher spoke about the need for more prisons and more community service during the Order of Business. I have done work over the past four and a half years in prisons, with members of the Traveller community and others. I say, as would people who are in prison, that we do not need more prisons. What we need is more community development and investment in our communities. I have heard a lot about law and order over the past two weeks in these Houses. For me, it is about investing in people. In 2008 and 2009, when the recession hit the country, the most vulnerable communities were hit the worst. These were places such as Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Crumlin and rural parts of Ireland. CCTV footage does not stop crime. Gardaí do not stop crime.”
“We worked to make it a long-standing committee to truly recognise Travellers as an ethnic minority group. The committee members fought for that at the time. We were just on the edge of getting it when the general election was called.”
“There was a missed opportunity for us to work with the Roma community while we were working on issues that impact Travellers. We would love to see the committee re-established. We worked very closely with local authorities and had great relationships with them and communities. I ask the Leader for as much support as possible from this House to re-establish the Traveller committee. One in every 11 deaths in our community is caused by suicide. Traveller women live 12 years less than women in the general population and Traveller men live 15 years less than men in the general population. We have many crises within our community, such as addiction, homelessness, health and mental health. I would really appreciate the Leader’s support for the re-establishment of the Traveller committee.”
“On 1 March 2017, Enda Kenny recognised the Traveller community as an ethnic minority group. Since then, we have seen pure tokenism for our community. We are not truly recognised in Ireland as an ethnic minority group. This brings me to the issue of the joint committee which focused on matters that impact the Traveller community, such as health, mental health, education, employment and accommodation. During the last term, the committee also focused on Travellers in the justice system. That committee, of which I was Chairperson, was dissolved in November 2024. We are looking to re-establish the Traveller committee in order that Travellers can have a meaningful voice within these Houses, especially when it comes to legislation and policies that impact our community.”
“My God, I have worked so hard to be here this time around and to get in here on my own merits. Where there is hope and courage, I am hoping to be the first ever member of the Traveller community and the youngest Member to be Leas-Chathaoirleach. I urge Members to vote with their hearts and their heads and to vote for change today. I know the vote will not be done in private but Members have the power and today we can create another piece of change in this House, as we did when we elected Mary Robinson and other great women. I wish Senator Maria Byrne every success in the role and I look forward to working with her. I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity because I was late putting my name forward. It is up to Members now. The ball is in their corner.”
“I put myself forward for this important role because I believe that this House represents the very best of us. The Seanad is the Chamber where important work can and does get done. We do not see the political divide much in this House when we are having our discussions on Bills and legislation, and we all do work together. As other Independent Senators said, even if people wanted me to be Leas-Chathaoirleach, it would not happen. I will continue, even though I am a little bit nervous. We have an opportunity today to create another piece of history in this historic institution. I was proud to be the first member of the Traveller community to be nominated to the Seanad in 2020 by the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin. I am proud to again put my head above the water, stand on my own two feet and work.”
“Many of my speeches begin with, "I remember my mother used to say..." and I do remember her saying, "Never take on a job you can't handle." As Frances Black said, before I ever came here I dedicated my whole life to human rights, equality, diversity and justice. Today I am standing up and I cannot even ask for Members' votes because the Seanad does not work that way. The question to be put is if they support Senator Maria Byrne as Leas-Chathaoirleach and Government Members will say "Yes". Where is the justice in that? Where is the vote in that? It is not very democratic. I will still read out the speech I prepared. I am seeking Senators' vote today to become the Leas-Chathaoirleach of the Seanad. Those of them who know me know my track record in speaking on diversity, inclusion and human rights.”
“I was speaking to the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. Her questions, which I really admired, were how could we work together and what could she do for women's health within the Traveller community. Wow. That was mind-blowing for me because, again, I want to work with, not against, people in these Houses. I am absolutely privileged to be here and I hope to work closely with my CEG colleagues to create better opportunities not just for the few in the country, but for everybody. We are going to work as hard as we can, I hope along with the Senators opposite, to reform the Seanad. Everybody here is a white, settled person. The majority are. I am the only member of the Traveller community here. It still does not reflect diversity and that needs to change.”
“It is absolutely vital we stand with the people of Palestine right now. The Civil Engagement Group will do everything in our power. That Bill does not need to be recreated. It is already there. The Government needs to implement it. I have so much to say. It is so surreal to stand up here and be an equal Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas. I thank every single outgoing Member of this House, TD and county councillor who put a number beside my name, because if you cannot see it, you cannot be it. I am not standing up saying "Look at me, I am a Senator and now you can go off and do it". That is not the case. When you are from the likes of Ballyfermot, Crumlin or Walkinstown, you can see it but that does not mean you can be it. You need the right supports and the right access to education and health services.”
“This time five years ago, my husband and one of our colleagues said to me, "Go for the Seanad, Eileen. There is a seat up for grabs, you can do it." I remember thinking, how stupid that was and that I would never get it. I got 76 first preference votes but it took me five years to get here. It is difficult for women from all parts of society to be here but it is tougher again when one is a member of the Traveller community, a black woman or a woman from a working class area. This Seanad does not reflect the Ireland we all live in today. It absolutely does not. I will be committed, going forward, to again work with those on the edges of society - those from marginalised communities. One of the emergency pieces of legislation we, in the Upper House, should pass is the occupied territories Bill. We should work on that Bill.”
“-----but he would have been absolutely delighted that I am here in the Seanad. It is such a privilege for me. Nearly 40 years ago, in 1982, Nan Joyce set out on a journey. She was the first member of the Traveller community to run for office. She got more than 500 votes. Back then, there was only Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael but she managed to get votes from ordinary people in Tallaght, which was absolutely incredible. Today, that journey has been completed. It is not that we have equality - it is far from equality. I am still the only Member of both Houses from an ethnic minority group. We all know the process of getting to the Seanad is not easy. It is not what you know but who you know. It is through those relationships that are built over the years. It took me five years to get here.”
“We are still, so far, the only group in the Oireachtas that is an all-women group. Many people here are celebrating with their mams, dads and families but it is almost 25 years since my mam passed away and it is almost 13 years since my father passed away. Being a member of the Traveller community and born and reared in a hating site, my mam would probably have thought I was the biggest eejit in the world to put myself forward for politics and getting, as she would probably have said, "tortured". My father was a big Fianna Fáiler and he would have been delighted.”
“It is so surreal to be elected to the Houses of the Oireachtas. As a member of the Traveller community, to have missed out in the last Seanad by a vote and a half but then to have been nominated by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, I will always be grateful and thankful to him for that opportunity. I can now walk down the corridors of Leinster House and no longer be stopped and have people say, "We put you there" and "There is the Traveller Senator. There she is, there. She was nominated by Micheál Martin". As I said, I will always be grateful. I thank my team for supporting me and the Civil Engagement Group - Senators Alice-Mary Higgins, Lynn Ruane and Frances Black - who not only stand with me but are always beside me. In any corner in which I need support, I have three great women in my corner.”