Travellers see fairs as 'hugely important'

COUNTRY FAIRS, when well-run, should not give rise to tension or racism against Travellers attending them, the director of the Irish Traveller Movement has said.

Damien Peelo said fairs were “a hugely important summer activity for Travellers” and should be seen as an opportunity for Travellers to integrate in society, and to see the economic contribution they can make.

He described as “totally unjustifiable racism” the calls made by some residents and business-owners for Travellers to be banned from summer fairs.

“Summer country fairs are hugely economically important and Travellers will sell whatever the market demands – clothes, tools, machinery, carpets, furniture, footwear. They are also a social occasion, an opportunity to meet and greet family they might not have seen all year.”

Asked about the anxiety felt by some people about large numbers of Travellers arriving into a town, he said this was unnecessary where fairs were well run. He cited the fairs in Kenmare, Co Kerry, Clifden in Co Galway, and Ballinasloe, Co Galway, as “extremely well-run”.

Martin Collins, assistant director of Traveller support organisation Pavee Point, said the majority of fairs were “extremely positive events, bringing great benefits, tourism and trade”, but added they could be disruptive for local people when there were infrastructural failures.

A spokesman for Galway County Council in Ballinasloe said a lot of planning went into the annual week-long horse fair in the town in October. “We have a set fee for a stall. A 20 per cent deposit is paid which we retain if the pitch is not left litter-free.”