Govt publishes report on young Travellers in Ireland
Around 18,000 young Travellers were living in Ireland in 2016, according to a new report from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.
They made up 1.15% of the total population aged 24 or younger in 2016.
The report finds that infant mortality rates are still higher for Travellers at 7.4 compared to the 2008 figure of 3.9 for the general population.
It also shows that 55.9% of of Travellers aged 15 to 24 in 2016 were working. This compares to 32.5% for the general population in that age group.
Most Travellers who were younger than 24 that year lived in Galway with 1,541, followed closely by South Dublin, with 1,347.
Another key finding of the report shows that around 3,080 Travellers and 688 Roma attending an Early Years Service in 2017/2018.
The report also found that Traveller women tend to have children earlier than the rest of the population, with 7% of those aged between 15 and 19 having given birth to one or more children in 2016. This compares to 1% of the total female population in the same age group.
Almost 23% of young Travellers were married, compared to just 1.2% of the whole population aged 15 to 24.
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, who published the report, said: “This report will be a valuable resource, providing vital insights and information for policy-makers on children and young people who are members of the Traveller community in Ireland.”
The report brought together data from sources including the CSO’s Census of Population, 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.
