Traveller body's funding suspended after adverts

Funding for the Citizen Traveller public awareness campaign has been suspended by the Department of Justice following the group's criticism of new anti-trespass legislation.

Organisers of the campaign were informed last week that a review of its operations was to take place immediately and, in the meantime, its funding was being frozen.

The review had been signposted in the Programme for Government drawn up by the Coalition partners but has been brought forward because of Citizen Traveller's recent advertising campaign.

It used billboards to attack a law passed before the general election giving the Garda increased powers to deal with illegally-parked vehicles.

The advertisements featured a Tricolour and the message: "Suddenly, in caring Ireland, to be a Traveller is a terrible crime." They also referred to the new law as "racist and unworkable".

The cost of the campaign, €60,000, was to have come from the €380,000 provided in funding by the Department of Justice to Citizen Traveller each year.

However, the Department has informed the group that it will not be paying for advertisements which brand its policies as racist.

A spokesman for the Department said the campaign was not eligible for funding as it was contrary to the aims of the Citizen Traveller programme, which was designed to promote tolerance and understanding between the Traveller and settled communities.

As a result of the campaign, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, had decided to act on the commitment in the Programme for Government and review the Citizen Traveller project urgently.

The review, to be completed by the end of next month, would examine the value for money given by the project and its decision-making and management.

The spokesman said concerns about the recent advertising campaign had been raised with the Department by Traveller groups themselves. This was confirmed yesterday by a member of the Citizen Traveller management committee Mr Martin Collins.

It was "fair to say", he said, that not all the Travellers' representative groups affiliated to Citizen Traveller had been happy with the campaign.

Mr Collins, however, said he was disappointed with the Department's reaction. "I would have thought that people would be mature enough to be able to accept constructive criticism."

He said the group had been informally told last week that there was to be an independent evaluation of its activities, and he welcomed this. The project was three years old and Travellers' bodies had been requesting that such a review take place.

However, he called on the Department to continue funding Citizen Traveller in the meantime. Recent controversies, such as the decision by publicans in Westport, Co Mayo, to bar Travellers from their premises, meant the need for public awareness campaigns was greater than ever.

Four Traveller organisations are involved in the Citizen Traveller project. They are the National Traveller Women's Forum, the Irish Traveller Movement, Pavee Point and the Parish of the Travelling People.