Travellers have voted unanimously to mount a national campaign demanding State recognition for travellers as a distinct ethnic minority group.
Delegates at the Irish Traveller Movement annual general meeting in Letterkenny today agreed to forward a petition to the Department of Justice.
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ITM chairwoman Catherine Joyce said they were confident of success as a number of State bodies and human rights groups have pledged their support.
“When we were developing our current Business Plan the Irish Traveller Movement asked members what they felt was the most important issue facing the community and overwhelmingly the answer was the need to secure ethnic status,” Ms Joyce said.
“There is also a lot of independent analysis and evidence which fully supports our case.”
Ms Joyce said reports carried out by the Equality Authority, the Irish Human Rights Commission and National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) all put forward arguments to back such a move.
Each of the groups today voiced their support for the campaign and the petition is expected to be submitted to the Department in the coming months.
Ms Joyce said recognising Travellers as an ethnic group would boost the community’s identity and culture.
“Ethnic status would provide greater protection of Travellers’ cultural independence under law,” she said.
“This would include official recognition of Traveller culture in the provision of housing, education, health services. For example, nomadism would have to be properly catered for in housing provision.
“It also would have implications in terms of ensuring Traveller representation in the political system.”
The chief executive of the Equality Authority Niall Crowley said it would support the petition. "The definition of Travellers needs to be more widely articulated in national policy and programmes if Travellers are to achieve full equality in practice across all areas of policy and provision," he said.
Executive director of Amnesty International’s Irish section Colm O’Gorman pledged his support for the campaign, as did NCCRI director Phillip Watt.
The AGM - Building Relationships - Recognising Identity- opened in Letterkenny yesterday.