Tonight Tuam, Co Galway, will make political history when it becomes the first city to elect a Traveller mayor - settled Traveller, Cllr Martin Ward.
"Who would have thought 20 years ago that a Traveller would be mayor of Tuam in 2003," asked the incoming councillor, who is certain that "Travellers will become TDs yet".
The mayoral chain comes to him this year because of a long established system whereby it rotates amongst councillors with the highest votes, starting with the person who tops the poll in the local elections.
Getting the former private hospital, the Bon Secours, open again is top of Cllr Ward's list of priorities .
"I am willing to protest outside the office of the Minister for Health regarding the way we were lied to about reopening our hospital before last year's election. Our Independent TD, Deputy Paddy McHugh, is doing his best but the Government seem to have his hands tied."
He also sees education, rather than politics, as the way forward for members of his community. "Travellers must aspire to become solicitors, teachers, journalists and why not have Travellers in the gardaí too," he said.
"I know a few fine young members of our community who did well in their Leaving Certificate examinations in recent years yet they seem to lack the confidence to seek positions as gardaí. But with the British police already having some Travellers among their ranks it is only a matter of time before we will have Travellers in the gardaí too," he added.
Cllr Ward is very proud of his own past.
"I was born in a campsite in Galway and spent the first six years of my life in a barrel top caravan before we got a house in Tuam. But I have wonderful memories of my childhood. Oh! all the folklore - it was great listening to the old people telling ghost stories, singing songs and playing music around camp fires."
The incoming mayor is pleased with the level of integration between members of his community and the settled people, especially in the town's sports clubs and teams.
A Traveller soccer team, Tuam Rangers, which originated in the Brú Bhríde Travellers Resource Centre where he is employed as a community youth worker, was augmented with a few settled players and went on to win the town's inter-firms soccer championship last Friday night. After their victory, Travellers and settled players alike celebrated together late into the night.
But Councillor Ward scotches any suggestion that Travellers can be more troublesome than settled people: "Similar to the settled community it is usually the same few who get into trouble."
"More and more Travellers are getting jobs and a lot of Travellers are in business too and I mean bona fide businesses," he said.
The incoming mayor says there is less discrimination towards members of his community in Tuam than in other parts of Ireland but he added that some such cases can still be witnessed there.
When asked about a major feud involving two Traveller families in Tuam which made national headlines a few years ago, he said those events are rarely even mentioned now in conversation among Travellers in the town.
"Chief Superintendent Bill Fennell did a lot of good work back then to calm the situation. Travellers have moved on from those times and what is past is past and should be left as water under the bridge," said the incoming mayor.