I first became aware that being a Traveller meant being treated differently when I went to school. I was put in a Traveller-only class. We were also given a separate playtime. Our teacher looked upon us as a problem. She told us we were settled people "gone wrong". She told us if we moved into houses we'd be "all right again".
In the 1980s there were a lot of anti-Traveller protests in Dublin city. On our way to school we had to walk through these. You'd try to hide who you were. That's very painful for anyone - especially a child.
The important thing in life is to know who you are. I think it's very important my kids are aware of who they are. But, they need to be taught about it at home because they don't get taught it in school.
I'm very proud of being a Traveller and I'm very proud of being Irish as well. Being a Traveller means you get great support from your community. Travellers have a shared history and a shared value system that binds us together.
Travellers are proud that we can survive and do well against the odds. We run successful businesses without any support from governments, without having had an education and in the face of discrimination. Older Travellers are highly respected because they are the real survivors.
Because Travellers have little access to health services, and are forced to live in appalling conditions, only 5 per cent live to be over 55 years. What's old to a Traveller is young to settled people.
I'm very proud when I see Travellers in the media and the way they can communicate - the way they can challenge people as equals - even though they never got an education.
For things to change, Travellers themselves have to get involved. In the last 20 years more and more have become aware of their rights.
Travellers change with the times.
My eight-year-old son has been at school for four years. Four years' education was the only formal education I ever had. I was born in a tent on the side of the road near Ardee, Co Louth. Now I'm living in a house. That doesn't make me any less a Traveller. An Irish person is no less Irish just because they live in Britain, for example.
A lot of people refer to you as a "settled" Traveller. That's not possible. Once a Traveller, always a Traveller.
Traveller culture, like Irish culture and any other culture, is changing. Hopefully, my children will have a better life in the future and Irish society will begin to respect Travellers as different, but equal.