A decision to end a Government-funded public information campaign aimed at bridging the gap between Traveller and settled communities has met with a mixed reaction from Traveller groups.
The Irish Traveller Movement has accused the authorities of stopping the Citizen Traveller campaign in response to its recent controversial billboard advertisements which branded Government policies as racist.
However, another Traveller group, Pavee Point, has largely welcomed the decision to end the campaign, while criticising the authorities for lack of consultation. The groups were united in calling for a swift replacement for the campaign, which received €380,000 funding per year since 1999.
The move to end Citizen Traveller follows a value-for-money review ordered after the summer's hard-hitting outdoor advertisements, which accused the authorities of criminalising Travellers with "racist" anti-trespass laws.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform ordered a review of Citizen Traveller by independent consultants due to "concerns over its management and direction". The consultant's report, released yesterday, said that while Citizen Traveller had many achievements to its credit, it "could not be considered to have achieved significant success in its main objective" - healing the divide between the settled and Traveller communities.
However, the report added, that objective could now be seen as unrealistic given the budget available, the campaign's timescale, the deeply held views of both communities and events which tended to reinforce these.
The report outlined four options for the future: to continue the campaign, to end it, to merge it into the Government's anti-racism campaign or to rebuild it on a broader basis with more substantial funding.
In announcing that he was ending the campaign, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said he was considering all options for a replacement scheme and would "consult with interested parties".
Mr Martin Collins from Pavee Point said it had called for an independent review of the campaign for more than a year as it felt it had "gone off on a tangent". He said the evaluation was necessary as there was a need for changes, but that Traveller groups should have been consulted to agree these changes. Mr Collins said it was "really crucial that some replacement and that some negotiated way forward is found".
Mr David Joyce from the Irish Traveller Movement challenged the decision to end the campaign.
"The report itself is not overly negative. The Minister has based his decision on the slightest criticism he has found," he said.
A Department spokesman said the Programme for Government had provided for a review of Citizen Traveller, and it was carried out on that basis.