Clampdown in Knock

AS the build-up to Pope Francis’s visit continues, it has emerged that Travellers are being prevented from parking on the main street of Knock, Co. Mayo.

Members of the Traveller community gather at the Marian shrine each year for the Feast of the Assumption, with the religious holiday traditionally serving as a matchmaking event.

Now, with just weeks to go before Pope Francis visits the basilica on August 26, gardaí have mounted a security operation on roads leading into the Co. Mayo town, according to our sister paper the Irish Mail on Sunday.

Traveller rights group Pavee Point told the MoS that if the move is directed specifically at Travellers it is ‘absolutely unacceptable’. Martin Collins said ‘clarity’ was needed on whether the move was aimed at all members of the public, and not just Travellers.