The advertising campaign launched by the Citizen Traveller group to protest the new anti-trespass laws was a mistake. Billboards proclaim "Suddenly in Caring Ireland to be a Traveller is a terrible crime." This is factually inaccurate and an affront to those who frame and apply the law. Moreover, it denigrates and denies the concerns and fears of many citizens who have suffered through the actions of a minority of the travelling community.
Four Traveller organisations are aligned within the Citizen Traveller project. There are reports that not all of these supported the advertising campaign. Less considered viewpoints prevailed however. The campaign seeks to portray Travellers as victims of the criminal law and of "racist and unworkable" policies. But the realities of Traveller life and of relations between Travellers and the settled community are more complex.
Citizen Traveller has done its cause no favours by seeking to overstate the extent of its members' victimhood.This State has made many mistakes in its treatment of the Travelling population. But to try to portray Travellers as a community proscribed by law is to lose a sense of proportion and to alienate moderate support. The Department of Justice has responded by cutting off funding for Citizen Traveller while a review of its operations takes place. The Department says the advertising campaign is contrary to the aims of Citizen Traveller which are to promote tolerance and understanding between Travellers and the settled community. The Department says it will not pay for advertisements which brand its policies as racist.
It is not difficult to see why the Department might be angry. But a little more indulgence might not have been out of order. Waving the financial stick will probably reinforce the views of some activists that Travellers are being persecuted, thus perpetuating the cycle of mistrust, accusation and bitterness.Most Travellers and their representatives are conscious of their need to listen to the settled community too. Travellers have suffered in Ireland. But sometimes the pendulum has swung so far that settled people too have had their rights trampled upon. They have had their personal safety threatened and their living space damaged. Full harmony will only be achieved through understanding and dialogue, based on fact rather than slogans.