GARDAÍ CANNOT play a meaningful role in resolving Travellers’ conflicts without a fuller awareness of their culture, an interagency meeting was told in Tullamore, Co Offaly, yesterday.
A new conflict resolution strategy to peacefully end tension and feuding among the midland Traveller community was unveiled during the meeting.
The Midland Travellers Conflict and Mediation Initiative will work with a number of community and statutory agencies in Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath.
The Department of Justice and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust have allocated funding to hire two mediation facilitators to operate in the region.
Longford Traveller Movement director Julie Mongan said “conflict within the community has become more of a problem and is getting a lot more bad publicity”.
In recent years, the violence has escalated with man-to-man combat replaced by gang violence, involving guns and other weapons.
“When a feud comes up between two Traveller families within an area it cannot be dealt with by the law using the same approach that they use for conflict within the settled community,” remarked Mrs Mongan.
“This is because Travellers come from a different background, they have a different culture, traditions, belief, they have a different way of life.”
Mrs Mongan paid tribute to gardaí who have worked with the Traveller community to end violent feuds. However, she said: “The guards as a settled force cannot play a meaningful role in resolving conflict on their own when they don’t understand the nature of the conflict because they don’t understand the culture.”
She recommended the Garda engage in Traveller culture awareness training. She also suggested the Garda hired more Travellers.
Larry Fullam, of Mullingar Traveller Action Group, outlined the findings of a recent report on Traveller conflict. “There are widespread perceptions among Travellers regarding bias by some gardaí with sections of families involved in conflict and a belief that a ‘divide and conquer’ approach is being used,” the report revealed.
Sgt Tony Quinn from Mullingar said the Garda was working with the HSE, local authorities and school principals to tackle the problem. “There is a lot of trust out there. The word mistrust or bias is used, that might be the perception but we do a lot of work on the ground,” he commented.
Supt Fergus Dwyer said the Garda placed great importance on its role as a community organisation. “If we haven’t got the moral authority of the community, we are going nowhere,” he said.
Pobal’s Owen McCarthy said conflict-sensitive planning was necessary for all agencies involved. He praised gardaí for their role in protecting the community.
While they participated in the report, Fergal Fox of the HSE Traveller Health Unit said there were no Traveller men on the conflict and mediation committee. He expressed a desire to engage with male members of the community.