THE demographics of the Roma community in Ireland have been formally recorded for first time.
A Spotlight report, titled Roma in Ireland, which has been published this week, reveals the size of the community and where it is located.
According to the figures, there are 16,059 Roma living in Ireland, who are predominantly located in Dublin (6,144) and Cork (1,251), while a smaller number live in each of the other 24 counties.
Members of the Roma Community of Ireland pictured at an event marking Roma Genocide Memorial Day in DublinThe report is based on data from Ireland’s 2022 census, which listed Roma as a separate ethnicity for the first time.
“Today’s report gives us a closer look at the Roma community in Ireland – their family composition, their health and their education, as well as an overview into Ireland’s overall attitudes to people of varying ethnicities,” Roderic O’Gorman, Ireland’s Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth said as he published the report.
“I am encouraged that access to specific data on the ethnicities of the people in Ireland will help in improving the services and supports available for these communities,” he added.
The report found the overall majority of Roma living in Ireland are of good health, matching the same trend as the general population.
It also revealed that the majority of Roma in Ireland have completed upper secondary education, with Roma youth having a rate of transfer from primary to post-primary education of 89 per cent.
That figure is lower than the general population transfer rate of 96 per cent, but higher than the transfer rate of the Traveller community of 83 per cent, the report states.
The data in the publication is expected be used to support the improvement of services for members of the Roma community in Ireland.
“This Government is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of ethnic groups in Ireland,” Minister O’Gorman said, before adding that it was their intention to “change attitudes and remediate inequalities for Travellers and Roma living in Ireland.”