Over 1,000 members of the Traveller Community gathered in Dublin today to express their fury at a new law they say will lead to their way of life being criminalised.
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Carmel Moorehouse (7 mths)from Bray at today’s protest at the Customs House office of the Department of the Environment
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Waving banners and chanting slogans such as "Traveller rights are human rights", they marched down O’Connell Street and along the quays before holding a rally outside the Department of the Environment.
Travellers groups say recently passed legislation making trespass a criminal offence is racist and could leave 1,200 Travellers without a place to live.
Hosting the rally today, Mr Thomas McCann of the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) urged protestors to use their vote in the upcoming General Election to show their anger at the Government.
He said the amendment to the Housing Act introduced by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, had been introduced without consultation and a meeting to discuss the matter had yet to be arranged.
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Mr Thomas McCann (far right) of ITM unveils a poster showing Gardaí evicting Travellers in Tallaght in the 1980s. Mr McCann warned the new law could lead to a return to mass evictions
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Mr McCann said: "When Bertie Ahern started off in Government, he said participation is the cornerstone of democracy . . . well where was he when this piece of legislation was introduced?.
"The fact that this racist law was introduced behind the backs of the Traveller organisations does not give us much hope for the future of social partnership," Mr McCann said.
The Travellers’ position is supported by Labour, Sinn Féin, the Greens, the Socialist Workers Party, civil rights groups and SIPTU.
With the legislation yet to be signed into law, the ITM and Travellers' rights organisation Pavee Point hope the matter will be left until they meet the Minister for the Environment after the General Election.
Among the speakers was Mr Michael Farrell of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties who said the Government had failed to meet the targets they set for accommodating Travellers when they came into office. He said: "Travellers are being victimised by the failure of Government and local authorities to do their jobs."
He described the decision to amend the law as "a populist move coming up to the General Election".
He also warned members of the settled community would be affected, especially those engaged in protest such as trade unionists and environmentalists.