Donegal Travellers Project (DTP) has welcomed the government announcement that Irish Travellers are to be recognised as an official ethnic group in Ireland.
The move reflects the distinctness of Travellers as a community, values the special role they have played in Irish history and culture, and will help to dismantle the persistent discrimination against them.
“This is a historic and emotional day for the Traveller community and for Traveller organisations who have been campaigning for nearly 30 years to have our people recognised as an ethnic group,” said Hugh Friel, DTP Men’s Health and Development Worker, who attended the announcement in the Dáil with DTP’s Katie Boyle and Martin Mongan.
“We know we are an ethnic group. Now the state has finally recognised our culture, our history, and the oppression we have experienced by its denial.”
“All of us in community development work to create the changes in society and government policy which promote the inclusion of the voices and experiences of marginalised communities,” said Siobhán McLaughlin, DTP Manager.
“Traveller organisations and the Traveller community have a sense of achievement, success, and jubilation today. The State has acknowledged the unique and undeniable status of being an ethnic group to the Traveller community. It may have been a long time coming, but it is still a day of great celebration.”
The Donegal Travellers Project entry in a recent St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Pic by Clive Wasson.
The announcement has been greeted with joy by Travellers throughout Donegal, who see it as a productive response to the strong criticism that Ireland has received from national and international human rights organisations for failing to adequately address anti-Traveller discrimination.
The recognition of Traveller ethnicity is also expected to shift the focus of government policy regarding Travellers fully away from assimilation and towards respect for their culturally different but equal status as Irish citizens.
“We want every Traveller in Ireland to be proud of who they are and to say that we’re not a failed set of people,” Bridget Quilligan of the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) said. “We have our own unique identity, and we shouldn’t take on all of the negative aspects of what people think about us. We should be able to be proud, and for that to happen our State needed to acknowledge our identity and our ethnicity, and they’re doing that today.”
DTP has actively participated in the long campaign for recognition of Traveller ethnicity alongside the ITM and other Traveller organisations, including Mincéirs Whiden, the National Traveller Women’s Forum, and the Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre.
Donegal Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn also played a leading role, including through writing a 2014 report on behalf of a cross-party Oireachtas committee which concluded that Travellers should be recognised as a distinct ethnic group.
“It’s been a long, hard road, and this is a proud day,” said Patrick McGinley, DTP Community Health Worker. “Before this everything has been a battle for Travellers. Now that Travellers are recognised as an ethnic group they won’t have to hide their identity. This will have a huge impact on their mental health and well-being, and hopefully means they can move on and have a better future for themselves and their children.”
“Before this, society was always trying to change Travellers into being settled,” said Annie Mongan, DTP Community Health Worker. “You wouldn’t want to change any more than settled people would want to change. This will let Travellers know where they are and the strength that they have.”
“Jolly good, it’s about time,” said Margaret Boyle, DTP Community Health Worker. “This will support other communities to realise that we have our own culture, language, and beliefs. It’s time the culture of Travellers was taught about in school.”
“This is a proud day for Travellers all over Ireland and for the movement working for this recognition for the last 30 years,” said Ann Friel, DTP Primary Health Care Project Assistant Co-ordinator. “We have worked so hard to get here. Travellers, take pride this day has finally come.”
