President Higgins makes call to ‘challenge discrimination’

Traveller Pride Week, an annual national event celebrating Traveller culture and identity, kicked off earlier this week with a message from President Michael D Higgins. The theme for this year is 'A celebration of Traveller change-makers in Irish history'.

The President emphasised the importance of recognising the achievements of Travellers and called upon the nation to “stand together, to challenge all vestiges and experiences of prejudice and discrimination, to work towards a future where every person, regardless of their background or ethnicity, feels valued and respected”. Speaking about the annual event he said that “it is by embracing the diversity that exists within our society and giving it its place that we become stronger as a nation”.

Tehmina Kazi, of the Cork Traveller Visibility Group, told the Cork Independent that Traveller women have been at the forefront of driving progress and instigating positive change for their community.

“I think we are making strides, with Traveller women in particular,” she said. “Last month 24 Traveller women graduated from UCC’s Leadership in the Community course. There are hurdles that these women have overcome to get an education. They had to juggle family life and work and complete a third-level qualification.”

While progress is being made, Tehmina explained that Travellers still experience discrimination and called on the settled community to join forces with the Travellers in advocating for Traveller rights and to be part of positive change. “There should be more Traveller culture awareness training and we need organisations to act as allies,” she said. “And for the average person if they want to help, call out Traveller racism when they see it and do not let it go unchallenged.”

Asked whether she believes the situation of Travellers in this country is improving, Tehmina said that she doesn’t think that it is. ”No, I think my colleagues would say if anything things are getting worse. You see hateful comments against Travellers on social media and people’s prejudices are allowed to go unchallenged. Certain people in positions of influence, like councillors for example will come out with anti-Traveller sentiment on certain radio stations. They are just given a platform and nobody comes along and challenges that.”

A survey released last week carried out by IPSOS, for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth appears to confirm that prejudice against Travellers continues to be an issue, with just 53% of people surveyed saying they feel comfortable living next door to either Travellers or Roma compared to 96% for white Irish.

The survey also revealed that only 43 per cent reported feeling comfortable with their child being in a relationship with a Traveller, compared to 95 per cent for white Irish. Tehmina said that she found the results of the poll “ disheartening but not surprising”.

A further 67 per cent surveyed said Traveller identity is a disadvantage in hiring. “We get young Travellers coming to us and they are not even sure should they go to educational training because they don’t think they are going to get a job afterwards,” she said.

“A lot of them would get work with Traveller projects, and we think Cork Traveller Visiblity Group is the largest employer of Travellers in Munster. That says a lot. It’s very difficult for Travellers to find employment, specifically long term employment elsewhere,” she said.