Editing Irish Travellers (section)

==Social conflict==
===Discrimination and prejudice===
Travellers are often reported as the subject of explicit political and cultural discrimination, with politicians being elected on promises to block Traveller housing in local communities and individuals frequently refusing service in pubs, shops and hotels.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/world/europe/deadly-fire-exposes-irelands-contempt-for-traveler-minority-group.html?ref=world | title=Sympathy Is Short-Lived for Irish Minority Group After Deadly Fire | newspaper=The New York Times | date=29 October 2015 | access-date=30 October 2015 | author=DALBY, DOUGLAS}}</ref> Settled populations often misinterpret Travellers' cultural differences, which results in their marginalization across different sectors of society.<ref name="McElweeJacksonCharles2003" />{{Rp|page=105}}

A 2011 survey by the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland concluded that there is widespread ostracism of Travellers in Ireland, and the report concluded that it could hurt the long-term prospects for Travellers, who "need the intercultural solidarity of their neighbours in the settled community.&nbsp;... They are too small a minority, i.e., 0.5 per cent, to survive in a meaningful manner without ongoing and supportive personal contact with their fellow citizens in the settled community."<ref name=Irishtimes>{{cite news|last=Holland|first=Kitty|title=Young among the most prejudiced, expert finds|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0518/1224297221192.html|access-date=18 May 2011|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=18 May 2011|archive-date=21 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021180914/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0518/1224297221192.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The general prejudice against Travellers hinders efforts by the central government to integrate Travellers into Irish society.<ref name=NYT102915>{{cite news|author1=Douglas Dalby|title=Sympathy Is Short-Lived for Irish Minority Group After Deadly Fire|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/world/europe/deadly-fire-exposes-irelands-contempt-for-traveler-minority-group.html|access-date=30 October 2015|work=The New York Times|date=29 October 2015|quote=Such is the animus toward Travelers that almost half of the country's 31 localities returned the money allocated by the central government for Traveler accommodations this year.}}</ref> Because Travellers are a minority group within Ireland and the United Kingdom, they have always faced discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity as Travellers. They experience discrimination in not having equal access to education, being denied service in pubs, shops, and hotels,<ref name="Velupillai 2015 381"/> and being subject to derogatory language.

In 2016, the USA's [[Country Reports on Human Rights Practices]] for the United Kingdom stated that Irish Travellers reported receiving discrimination on "racial or ethnic grounds" in the country, and stated that the High Court had ruled that the [[Government of the United Kingdom|government]] had illegally discriminated against Travellers by unlawfully subjecting planning applications to special scrutiny.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm#wrapper|title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016|website=State.gov|access-date=2 August 2017}}</ref>

The [[European Parliament]] Committee of Enquiry on Racism and [[Xenophobia]] found them to be among the most discriminated-against [[ethnic]] groups in Ireland<ref>Traveller, Nomadic and Migrant Education by Patrick Alan Danaher, Máirín Kenny, Judith Remy Leder. 2009, p. 119</ref> and yet their status remains insecure in the absence of widespread legal endorsement.<ref name="tinker">''Traveller, Nomadic and Migrant Education'' by Patrick Alan Danaher, Máirín Kenny & Judith Remy Leder</ref> Anti-Traveller racism and discriminatory attitudes extend to those working in social services including the Gardai, which presents additional issues to the Traveller community.<ref name="Garrett" />{{Rp|page=123}}

===Work and income===
According to the 2016 Irish census, 4,524 of 9,055 Travellers over the age of 15 (50%) were "Unemployed having lost or given up previous job".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://statbank.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/saveselections.asp%.|title=Irish Travellers Aged 15 Years and Over 2011 to 2016 (Number) by County and City, Sex, Principal Economic Status and Census Year|access-date=8 October 2020}}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> While 10,653 Travellers were in the labour force, the vast majority, 8,541 (80.2%), were unemployed. Almost 1 in 8 Travellers (11.3%) stated that they were unable to work due to a disability, which was almost three times the rate of the general population (4.3%).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/pressreleases/2017pressreleases/pressstatementcensus2016resultsprofile8-irishtravellersethnicityandreligion/|title= Press Statement Census 2016 Results Profile 8 - Irish Travellers, Ethnicity and Religion |website=Cso.ie|access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref> A report from the [[Economic and Social Research Institute]] and [[Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission]] report that Irish travellers are 10 times more likely to experience discrimination when seeking work in comparison to White Irish.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.esri.ie/publications/who-experiences-discrimination-in-ireland-evidence-from-the-qnhs-equality-modules |title=Who experiences discrimination in Ireland? Evidence from the QNHS Equality Modules |last=McGinnity |first=Frances |last2=Grotti |first2=Raffaele |last3=Kenny |first3=Oona |last4=Russell |first4=Helen |date=2017-11-09 |publisher=ESRI and The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) |doi=10.26504/bkmnext342 |language=en|hdl=11572/328026 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>  

Many Travellers are breeders of dogs such as [[lurcher]]s and have a long-standing interest in horse trading. The main fairs associated with them are held annually at [[Ballinasloe fair|Ballinasloe]] (County Galway), Puck Fair (County Kerry), Ballabuidhe Horse Fair (County Cork), the twice-yearly Smithfield Horse Fair (Dublin inner city) and [[Appleby Horse Fair|Appleby]] (England).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/smithfield-horse-fair-816055-Mar2013/|title=First 'new-look' regulated Smithfield Horse Fair on Sunday|first=Aoife|last=Barry|website=Thejournal.ie|date=March 2013 |access-date=2 August 2017}}</ref> They are often involved in dealing scrap metals, e.g., 60% of the raw material for Irish steel is sourced from scrap metal, approximately 50% (75,000 metric tonnes) segregated by the community at a value of more than £1.5&nbsp;million. Such percentages for more valuable non-ferrous metals may be significantly greater.<ref>''Recycling and the Traveller Economy (Income, Jobs and Wealth Creation)''. Dublin: Pavee Point Publications (1993)</ref>

Since the majority of Irish Travellers' employment is either [[self-employment]] or [[wage labour]], income and financial status varies greatly from family to family. Many families choose not to reveal the specifics of their finances, but when explained it is very difficult to detect any sort of pattern or regular trend of monthly or weekly income. To detect their financial status many look to the state of their possessions: their [[Travel trailer|trailer]], [[motor vehicle]], domestic utensils, and any other valuables.<ref name="Okely1983" />{{rp|page=63}}

===Social identity===
[[File:Traveller Ethnicity pin.jpg|thumb|The Traveller Ethnicity pin was created to celebrate the Irish State's formal acknowledgment on 1 March 2017 of Travellers as a distinct ethnic group in Irish society.]]
Irish Travellers are recognised in [[United Kingdom law|British]] and [[Law in the Republic of Ireland|Irish law]] as an [[ethnic group]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cre.gov.uk/gdpract/g_and_t_facts.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203055126/http://cre.gov.uk/gdpract/g_and_t_facts.html|title=Gypsies and Irish Travellers: The facts|archive-date=3 February 2007|work=cre.gov.uk}}</ref><ref name=Itmtrav1>{{Cite web |url=http://www.itmtrav.com/Legal-ResourcePack1.html |title=''Irish Travellers Movement:'' Traveller Legal Resource Pack 1 - The Irish Legal System |access-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109001648/http://www.itmtrav.com/Legal-ResourcePack1.html |archive-date=9 January 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Itmtrav2>{{Cite web |url=http://www.itmtrav.com/Legal-ResourcePack2.html |title=''Irish Travellers Movement:'' Traveller Legal Resource Pack 2 – Traveller Culture |access-date=29 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108230200/http://www.itmtrav.com/Legal-ResourcePack2.html |archive-date=8 January 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> An ethnic group is defined as one whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry. Ethnic identity is also marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and by common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioural or biological traits.<ref name=Itmtrav2/> 

Contemporary Traveller culture reflects an evolution of traditional values and practices in interaction with legislative changes and wider societal changes. Nomadism, market trading, and horse ownership are traditional features of Traveller culture and heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Irish Travellers |url=https://itmtrav.ie/what-is-itm/irish-travellers/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=Irish Traveller Movement |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Violence and crime===
In 1960 a government body was set up to conduct research into the Travelling Community in the Republic of Ireland. The Commission on Itinerancy operated under the auspices of the Department of Justice, the persons were appointed by the Junior Minister [[Charles Haughey]]. One finding was: that "public brawling fuelled by excessive drinking further added to settled people's fear of Travellers". Furthermore "feuding was felt to be the result of a dearth of pastimes and [of] illiteracy, historically comparable to features of rural Irish life before the Famine".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bhreatnach|first=Aoife|title=Becoming conspicuous: Irish travellers, society and the state, 1922–70|publisher=University College Dublin Press|year= 2006|page=108|isbn=978-1-904558-61-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQd1AAAAMAAJ&q=+feuding}}</ref>

A 2011 report, conducted by the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, ''Voices Unheard: A Study of Irish Travellers in Prison'' (Mac Gabhann, 2011) found that social, economic and educational exclusion were contributing factors to the "increasingly high levels of imprisonment" of Irish Travellers.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mac Gabhann|title=Voices Unheard: Irish Travellers in Prison|url=http://www.irishchaplaincy.org.uk/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=81554|publisher=Irish Chaplaincy in Britain|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901024106/http://www.irishchaplaincy.org.uk/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=81554|archive-date=1 September 2013}}</ref>

===Travellers' sites in the United Kingdom===
{{Further|Halting site}}
The passing of the [[Caravan Sites Act 1968]] safeguarded Travellers' right to a site, but the [[Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994]] repealed part II of the 1968 act, removing the duty on local authorities in the UK to provide sites for Travellers and giving them the power to close down existing sites. In Northern Ireland, opposition to Travellers' sites has been led by the [[Democratic Unionist Party]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hainsworth |first1=Paul |title=Divided Society: Ethnic Minorities and Racism in Northern Ireland |date=1998 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-1195-1 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Divided_Society/eOCNOxvBbvIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=DUP%20politicians%20have%20been%20in%20the%20forefront%20of%20opposition%20to%20Travellers%27%20sites |language=en}}</ref>

However, Travellers make frequent use of other, non-authorised sites. These include public [[common land]] and private plots such as large fields and other privately owned lands. A famous example was the occupation of [[Dale Farm]] in Essex in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jul/27/dale-farm-essex-travellers-eviction|title=Dale Farm Travellers: 'We won't just get up and leave'|author=Rachel Stevenson|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=27 July 2010|access-date=30 August 2010}}</ref> The Travellers claim that there is an under-provision of authorised sites. The Gypsy Council estimates under-provision amounts to insufficient sites for 3,500 people.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4213875.stm|title=Councils 'must find Gypsy sites'|work=BBC News|date=2005-01-27}}</ref>