A/HRC/17/34/Add.2 Racial Discrimination that the Irish Government should adopt the principle of selfidentification and officially recognize the Traveller community as an ethnic group (CERD/C/IRL/CO/3-4). This may help to enhance the respect and legitimacy accorded to Travellers and to minimize the social exclusion they experience. F. Migrants 81. The migrant population in Ireland has increased dramatically over the last decade, with migrants now representing over 10 per cent of Ireland’s total population (CERD/IRL/C/3-4, para. 16). Because migrants tend to be in informal employment, under often precarious conditions, they have been particularly exposed to wage decreases and layoffs during the crises, especially since many migrants were attracted to Ireland by the boom in the construction sector, and were thus vulnerable to the burst of the housing bubble. The situation of migrants in Ireland, in the aftermath of the crises, is even more precarious as they suffer from a lack of access to social protection due to the requirement that beneficiaries be habitually resident in Ireland. Without adequate income to support them in Ireland or enable them to return to their home countries, many migrants have fallen into poverty and even homelessness since the onset of the crises. 82. The Government must ensure that special measures are in place to support and assist the migrant population in Ireland, a process which should begin with ratification of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The independent expert welcomes the Intercultural Education Strategy 2010-2015 (IES) aimed at developing an intercultural learning environment, based on inclusion and integration throughout the education system.68 Education is a key means of ensuring poverty reduction and social inclusion, and the Government should continue to pursue policies which facilitate the education and integration of Ireland’s migrant children, who comprise 6 per cent of the total child population of Ireland.69 The Government should also ensure that budgetary adjustments do not adversely affect the migrant population who are already experiencing economic and social disadvantage. Recent measures to reduce the number of language-support teachers in schools stand in blunt contrast to the high-level goals of the IES, and jeopardize migrant children’s chances of attaining sufficient educational support and social integration. G. Homeless people and people living in substandard housing conditions 83. The need for social housing in Ireland has escalated dramatically in recent years, so that in 2008, 56,249 households were in need of social-housing support (an increase of 30 per cent from 2005) but were not currently receiving it.70 This urgent need is still not being met and waiting lists continue to grow as the ramifications of the crises are felt by the most vulnerable. The fact that such waiting lists exist in the context of a housing crisis which has created a large surplus of housing stock throughout the country, is evidence of the complexity of the problem. 68 69 70 Department of Education and Skills, Intercultural Education Strategy 2010-2015. State of the Nation’s Children, p. 28. Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin 2008, p. 98. 19