Madam, - Michael Rafferty (October 28th) does not think that anyone ever said that Travellers are a separate race. Why then, during the many conflicts between them and other citizens, are those who complain about Travellers' behaviour accused of "racism"? Such accusations, with their myriad negative connotations, surely offer an emotionally weighted advantage to the accusers before the issue is ever examined.
And it must be said that Travellers are not the only people whose role and function in society has altered irrevocably over the past century. Many Irish families left small, economically floundering towns and villages and had to adapt to different work and lifestyles in the big cities. Their children emigrated to England or America or even further afield. Within the past decade many people, without even catching sight of a flick of the tiger's tail, have seen their skills become obsolete and their opportunities for realistic retraining are few and far between. There is pain and suffering there too, Mr Rafferty, among what you dub "the dominant groups in Irish society".
Brendan Ó Caoláin (also October 28th) rejects the idea that DNA testing can make links between peoples (or rule them out) even though it is used by scientists to do just that. Individuals in the Somerset area of England, for instance, have volunteered for testing, and it has been established that some have genetic connections with the people whose bones were discovered in caves at Cheddar Gorge. Similar scientific studies have shown a greater input of Icelandic genes in the north of Britain and of Mediterranean genes in the south. And of course DNA testing has been used to solve crime and to positively identify bodies of the long dead.
However, all these factors are irrelevant really, except when people such as your correspondents seem determined to play down Travellers' links with the other people of this island and to portray them as perpetual victims and outcasts. But difference can be accommodated within a shared identity. There are other groups in the country which claim to be "different", which are seen as different, and which are playing a positive role in Irish society.
No one doubts that Travellers are different, and few would argue that their positive qualities could not contribute to the overall welfare of the people who inhabit this island. But to claim that their difference is a racial and/or ethnic one is to hide behind a smokescreen and to delay the day when this group might participate fully in society and assume all the responsibilities of Irish citizenship. - Yours, etc.,
MARIE MacSWEENEY, Dublin Road, Drogheda, Co Louth.