CIVIL SERVANTS are preparing a document on “the practical implications of recognising Travellers as a distinct ethnic group” which should be finalised next month, according to Minister of State for Equality Mary White.
She was speaking in Co Carlow where she met Travellers at the Borris Fair.
The Green Party supports the recognition of Travellers as a separate ethnic group but the policy does not form part of their renewed Programme for Government with Fianna Fáil.
The Minister was accompanied by Patrick Nevin, a member of the Green Party’s equality group, who said, “If you speak to Travellers, there is limited understanding of the concept of ethnicity.” He said the “debate has to take place within the Travelling community supported by elected representatives”.
Mr Nevin, who prefers to be known as “a tinker, not a Traveller”, admitted that even his own siblings disagreed with his views on the “ethnic question”. He described the Borris Fair as “one of the last edifices of Traveller culture to survive into the 21st century”.
Ms White later toured the fair with Damien Peelo of the Irish Traveller Movement. His organisation has called on the Government “to recognise Travellers as an ethnic minority group”. He said the movment had the support of “over 6,000 people” who had signed a petition, and the backing of the Equality Authority and Amnesty International.
Asked to explain how Travellers differed from the rest of Irish society, Mr Peelo said they had a “different world view” from that of the settled community.
He said Travellers placed great emphasis on the role of the family, preferred self-employment to earning a “salaried-wage” and had their own language which was “not widely spoken and was dying out” because of lack of State support.
