Traveller ethnicity welcomed in Sligo
Sligo Traveller Support Group ( STSG) has expressed its delight that the State will recognise Travellers as an ethnic group for the first time.
The campaign to recognise Traveller ethnicity has been ongoing for decades.
It’s estimated there are some 40,000 Travellers in Ireland with approximately 500 living in Sligo.
Numerous bodies have recommended for some time that the Irish state recognises Traveller ethnicity including the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Ombudsman for Children, and a number of United Nations committees such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
STSG manger Bernadette Maughan said: “This is a truly historic day for Travellers in Ireland.
“After years of hard work we are absolutely delighted that our unique culture, identity, history and ethnicity will be formally recognised by the State.
“On a practical level it will help direct much needed targeted services at those who need education, medical and accommodation supports. What is as important though is the confidence this historic announcement will give us as a community to meet the challenges that we face.
“It is also fantastic for young Travellers in that they can now grow up confident that their own identity, culture and history is as important as any other group in society”.
The new status for the Travelling community has also been welcomed by Councillor Martin Baker, chairperson of the Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee.
He said the Travelling community have their own traditions and ways and these needed to be respected.
“No matter who you are or your background everyone should be treated equally,” he said.
Local Traveller, Bernard Sweeney, who contested the last General Election, said that as far as he was concerned the recognition of Traveller ethnicity was just phase one and the next step would be the seeking of a formal apology from the State for forcing assimilation into the settled community on them.
He said this was evident across all areas of Irish life including the education system and with regard to children taken into care.
This, he said, had led to a lot of confusion amongst the Travelling community and an identity crisis for many.
Mr Sweeney said it had been 90 years of oppression of the Travelling community with generations of families growing up in denial of their ethnicity and being subjected to racism and social exclusion.
“While the recognition is an historic moment for the Travelling community it is very much a bitter sweet moment,” he said.
Mr Sweeney said the recognition of Traveller ethnicity wasn’t like a magic wand and put everything right and in fact he believed it might magnify the some of the settled community’s prejudices.
He added: “It’s a symbolic thing really. It was something which we knew we always had but which the State had always denied us.”
Mr Sweeney said the 40,000 travelling community were the descendants of the true Irish natives.
He also spoke of the work needed to be done in terms of providing Traveller accommodation and how many local authorities return money regularly which is earmarked for Traveller accommodation with objections from communities “still being pandered to.”
Martin Collins, Pavee Point Director said the announcement shone a light on Travellers’ rich distinct history and culture and sent out a message of respect and inclusion.
He said: “It also lays to rest notions that Travellers are a primitive, dysfunctional, failed settled people who originated from the famine and who just need to be normalised and civilised by the State.
“We know that acknowledging Traveller ethnicity does not solve the problems that Travellers face in their daily lives – discrimination, unemployment, lack of proper accommodation and poor educational outcomes.
“But respect for our culture has the potential to deconstruct centuries of internalised shame within the Traveller community and allow future generations of Travellers to grow up with pride in their identity.”