President says treatment of Travellers 'not acceptable'

IT WAS “not acceptable coming into Christmas” that there were still Traveller families living without running water, electricity or washing facilities, President Michael D Higgins has said.

“It is long past the time that this society should have resolved what is Traveller specific accommodation. It is about a right to a way of life.”

Mr Higgins was speaking at the third annual Traveller Pride Awards in Dublin yesterday where 10 presentations were made to Travellers for their contribution to such areas as sports, the arts, music and education.

The awards were hosted by the Irish Traveller Movement, as part of Traveller Pride Week.

Describing the week and the awards as “very important” Mr Higgins said it was about “dispelling misinformation about Travellers” and “encouraging the media to make space for Traveller issues”.

Quoting the poet WH Auden, he said civilisation should be celebrated by the degree of diversity it attains and by the degree of unity it retains.

“It is important also that I speak honestly here. Travellers have rights to their way of life. But women and children have rights too. It is a balance of rights, some of which must be resolved within the Traveller community.

“We should all of us, within the settled and the Traveller communities, have the intelligence and commitment to solve all these issues.”

Mr Higgins presented a lifetime achievement award to actor Michael Collins, who appeared in the RTÉ series Glenroeand has written and appeared in a number of well-received plays dealing with Travellers' lives, including Mobileand King of the Travellers.

The President said recipients of the awards were “helping to transform an unjust reality into an inclusive society and future”.

A range of well-known people presented the awards, including singer Mary Coughlan, children’s television presenter Diana Bunici, singer Frances Black and broadcaster Vincent Browne.

Browne said Travellers were “treated appallingly in Irish society” and the “cause of Travellers is one of the great causes in modern Ireland”.

Brigid Quilligan, assistant director of the Irish Traveller Movement, said the awards were so important for Travellers, as “sometimes we are made to feel we’re dysfunctional or outcasts or dropouts.

“We are an Irish ethnic minority, with a lot to contribute. Our fight is to get that recognised by all the people, so that we can contribute as much as we want.

“It is not everywhere that we can stand up and say ‘I’m a Traveller and I’m proud to be.’ Often we feel we have to hide who we are.” She said Travellers had been campaigning for many years to be recognised as an ethnic minority.

“One of the arguments we get back from government and from other people is: ‘Do you want to have a state within a state?’ Do we want to stand back from being Irish?

“We are proud of being Irish and we are also extremely proud of our Traveller identity. You can very successfully hold both identities close to you and be proud of them both.”