Madam, - If someone carries the surname Morandi or Corsini we assume they are Italian or of Italian origin. If their name is Montesquieu or Lefebvre we conclude that their ethnic background is French. We make similar assumptions about German, Russian, Spanish, Indian, Chinese and various other surnames. As far as I am aware there are no objections to our using this sort of information in this way.
Members of the travelling community in Ireland carry names such as Joyce, Stokes, Sweeney, Collins and McDonagh. It stretches credulity to insist that they are not of the same ethnic stock as the rest of the Irish population. Indeed, DNA testing would more than likely establish that they have the same origins as other Joyces, McDonaghs, etc.
It is clear that their difference is a social and not a racial one. Is it not time to have this fact acknowledged as the starting point of any future evaluation of the needs and responsibilities of Travellers? - Yours, etc.,
MARIE MacSWEENEY, Dublin Road, Drogheda, Co Louth.