Here’s a little insight into Traveller life in NI.
My parent’s wedding anniversary is coming up soon, so my siblings and I are trying to organise a night out.
Want to know the first question we discussed before we even talked about a date?
‘Where will serve us?’
Wow.
I’m sure most of you are already aware, but for clarity - in Ireland ‘gypo’ is used to refer to Travellers.
Life in Ireland has suddenly got a lot more dangerous for Travellers, minorities and migrants.
This isn’t patriotism, this is thuggery.
@RTEOne
“More than 1 in 10 Travellers die by suicide”
Let that sink in.
More than 10% of all Travellers will take their own lives!
Imagine instead of Travellers, it’s your own extended family, friends or community.
Where’s the uproar? Where’s the help?
You all need to step up.
“It is widely known that the Irish education system officially segregated Traveller children based on their ethnicity from 1963 onwards.”
Sadly, it gets even worse…
Read below 👇
@NewstalkFM
@PaveePoint
@itmtrav
@RTEOne
Suicides amongst Travellers, including children, are tragically becoming more common. 😔
The constant and unrelenting discrimination that Travellers are being forced to endure is sadly taking its toll.
And the really depressing part is that I know I have the tools to potentially fight it, but I just don’t want the embarrassment of being refused, so we will just avoid the places we know won’t serve us.
The prevalence of such blatant discrimination is very emotionally taxing.
So…
Rang up a local restaurant to book a table, everything was going well, all details agreed on (time / number of people).
Asked for name for booking.
Told him.
Pause.
Heard him in background it’s a booking for (surname) what do we tell them?
…
“High levels of bullying and discrimination experienced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.”
Sadly I can vouch for this first hand, I experienced various types of bullying throughout my school years;
- Being excluded
- Being verbally abused
- Being physically attacked
Did you know that Gypsies, Roma and Travellers experience the highest rates of exclusion out of any other ethnic group in the UK?
We’ve released a new briefing on education inequalities, exploring the barriers faced and offering guidance.
Read: (1/3)
Suicides amongst Travellers, including children, are tragically becoming more common. 😔
The constant and unrelenting discrimination that Travellers are being forced to endure is sadly taking its toll.
This powerful documentary explores the issue of high suicide rates among the Irish Traveller community through the harrowing story of 12-year-old Patrick McDonagh
#Patrick
– A Young Traveller Lost | Monday | 9.35pm
One of the reasons I love studying law is the potential to help others so on that note…
I know how studying law can seem daunting and unwelcoming to Travellers.
But it isn’t all bad and I’m open to speaking with Travellers who are interested.
So feel free to get in touch.
@IrishTimes
So I had a nosey through the comments…
I’ve noticed that the majority of anti-Traveller remarks are coming from the
#IrishFirst
crowd…
Funny that.
And whilst I can only speak of personal circumstances, this isn’t a situation unique to myself.
It’s sadly a very real shared experience for most, if not all Travellers in both the UK and Ireland.
“High levels of bullying and discrimination experienced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.”
One of the many key issues affecting Traveller children in education, and sadly one I had to deal with personally.
Shockingly, it wasn’t just pupils but also their parents and staff.
Did you see our new briefing on the barriers Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children face in education? 🎒
We look at the barriers pupils from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds face in school and beyond, and ways things could get better.
Read:
Traveller children are committing suicide!
You must wonder why?
One of the reasons is the sheer volume of bullying, racism and othering being levied against them.
That takes a toll on their mental health!
Imagine it’s your child who felt that was their only escape.
#Patrick
Suddenly the restaurant is booked out for an event the same night.
I informed him that I heard him in the background and what he’s doing is discriminatory, he didnt even bother disagreeing.
…
Let’s hope something real comes from it!
Great work to everyone who attended, sadly I couldn’t make it due to study commitments but I’m there with you in spirit!
Travellers are being failed by the Irish State
#EnoughIsEnough
Travellers and Traveller allies protest outside the Daíl to highlight the absolute catastrophe our community is going through with mental health, which is a direct consequence of intergenerational trauma, caused by continuous racism, since the foundation of the Irish state.
So…
Rang up a local restaurant to book a table, everything was going well, all details agreed on (time / number of people).
Asked for name for booking.
Told him.
Pause.
Heard him in background it’s a booking for (surname) what do we tell them?
…
This stands out…
“…told the tribunal they didn’t have a work phone or any allowance for phone credit to perform their duties, even though other staff at the organisation who were not Travellers had been provided with phone and broadband access.”
Wow.
It’s bittersweet to see the heartbreaking issue of suicide within the Traveller community being raised in the Dáil.
While it is great that the issue is being recognised, it never should have reached this level.
The Irish state has failed Travellers!
It’s time to make amends.
I raised the tragic case of 12 year old Patrick McDonagh who died by suicide
1 in 7 Travellers will die by suicide
We need a National Action Plan for Traveller Mental Health 💚
It’s pretty disgusting the amount of users on here who’ve been using the
#DublinRiot
to sneer at those who might be on benefits, need legal aid or be working class.
There’s plenty of reasons to condemn those who rioted without attacking their perceived socio-economic level.
Update:
We have somewhere potentially booked for tomorrow.
And I deliberately use the word ‘potentially’ as it’s not unknown for restaurants to use last minute excuses to refuse service.
Fingers crossed 🤞
So…
Rang up a local restaurant to book a table, everything was going well, all details agreed on (time / number of people).
Asked for name for booking.
Told him.
Pause.
Heard him in background it’s a booking for (surname) what do we tell them?
…
@Oh_Deer_Diner
I can sadly relate, on both the casual classism and also the whole ‘But you don’t seem like a Traveller’.
Sadly we as a people have a habit of prejudging others.
Some good news from today …
I was involved in the pilot meeting of forming a Traveller Led project.
Bittersweetly it’s the first time it has been attempted in my immediate locality, and sadly there doesn’t seem to be any functioning in NI currently.
So if you…
(1/2)
I’ve seen some talk on here about creating a
#NationalTravellersDay
and I’ll be honest, my first thought was;
‘What’s the point?’
But on reflection today, it could be an amazing opportunity to raise cultural awareness, and highlight the ills of enduring constant discrimination
@hmtreasury
“Additional support comes alongside tougher sanctions for people who don’t look for work, as part of the next generation of welfare reforms.”
@Jeremy_Hunt
would like you to believe that sanctions are the easy answer to a complex problem but all it’ll do is cause undue suffering.
“More than 1 in 10 Travellers die by suicide”
Let that sink in.
More than 10% of all Travellers will take their own lives!
Imagine instead of Travellers, it’s your own extended family, friends or community.
Where’s the uproar? Where’s the help?
You all need to step up.
“We are talking about a National crisis, there are so many Travellers taking their own lives.”
This powerful documentary explores the issue of high suicide rates among the Irish Traveller community.
#Patrick
– A Young Traveller Lost | Monday | 9.35pm
Looks very interesting, and I’ll have to check it out tomorrow online.
It’s great getting the message out that increasing numbers of Travellers are pursuing formal education whilst still being proud of their Traveller identity.
"A bit of support, that's all it takes" ❤️
Why Chantelle Stokes wants educate herself and show others that Travellers can both get married and have a career
📺 Second Chances, Continues Sunday at 9pm on Virgin Media Player & Virgin Media One
There’s a few things in this article that concerns me but I’ll only comment on the potentially most serious.
@NHS_HW
appears to be selectively avoiding follow up care with those who they assume are Travellers.
Has an investigation been launched
@NHSEngland
? And if not, why not?
A woman has said her cervical cancer was not caught early enough because a hospital falsely assumed she was from a travelling community.
Angelina Devlin..was not offered a follow-up after giving birth despite a midwife detecting a growth in her cervix.’
Update:
We have somewhere potentially booked for tomorrow.
And I deliberately use the word ‘potentially’ as it’s not unknown for restaurants to use last minute excuses to refuse service.
Fingers crossed 🤞
@IrishLegalNews
@flacireland
Great work
@flacireland
and
@tejpucc
!
It is terrible that Travellers need to resort to such measures to fight discrimination, but hopefully more judgements like this will help end the endemic refusal of services based purely on Traveller ethnicity!
It would be great to see some Travellers take advantage of these free legal advice days being ran by
@UlsterLawClinic
.
If you need some free legal advice in regard to employment law, family law, social security law or housing law - please come along👇
Share!
See below for details of our free legal advice days on
⚖️Thur 9 Nov in Richmond Shopping Centre, Derry/Londonderry, 10.30am-4pm
⚖️Fri 10 Nov in Castlecourt Shopping Centre, Belfast, 10.30am-4pm.
No appointment needed - just drop in and we'll be glad to help.
I look forward to reading these books about the lived experiences of Traveller and Roma children!
For those who aren’t Irish Travellers and would like an insight into Traveller life in Cork, you should check them out! 👇
“The film, which will be aired on RTÉ One tonight, tells the story of 12-year-old Patrick McDonagh from Finglas in Dublin who died a year ago.”
“There are increasing concerns over the growing number of young members of the community dying by suicide…”
@DeanRheims
@love_prezzo
Every time I see a video like this, I can’t help but suffer the effects of vicarious trauma.
I’ve been on the receiving end of this sort of treatment more times than I can count, and is the primary reason why I study law.
@love_prezzo
do you you condone this unlawful behaviour?
I didn’t realise that the UK Supreme Court is now considered a foreign court…
On a serious note, be wary of any political party that wants to dilute your rights.
It’s not for your benefit.
Following today’s ruling, I’m taking the extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation to confirm Rwanda is safe.
I will not allow a foreign court, like the European Court of Human Rights, to block these flights.
Here’s the plan in full ⬇️
1/5
@MyLovelyHorseR
Before people get excited at the prospect of indulging their anti-Traveller sentiments here.
The majority of Travellers condemn this type of reckless behaviour.
Before someone uses the ‘witty’ retort of ‘police your own’, that’s the job of the Gardaí.
It was interesting to listen to all the speakers discussing the unique issues that a significant amount of Travellers face when dealing with the judicial system.
Great work
@GypsyTravellerM
On Wednesday we hosted an online launch of our new Pre-Sentencing Report Toolkit.
We were delighted to welcome our panellists Her Honour Judge Abigail Hudson and Ghislaine Sandoval and Caroline Liggins from
@hodgejonesallen
who all added vital insights.
@BBCNews
Has
@NHSuk
@NHSEngland
launched an investigation into this?
This is a potentially dangerous position for the NHS staff at Watford Hospital to take when dealing with those they perceive to be Travellers.
The NHS burying their head in the sand isn’t an appropriate response.
@FineGael
@HMcEntee
Here’s a short thread detailing why trying to implement authoritarian measures, such as facial recognition technology, under the guise of public safety is an unwise idea…
Here’s a little insight into Traveller life in NI.
My parent’s wedding anniversary is coming up soon, so my siblings and I are trying to organise a night out.
Want to know the first question we discussed before we even talked about a date?
‘Where will serve us?’
Have you been involved in the criminal justice system as a young adult or know someone who has?
We want to better understand how Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young adults and their families have been impacted by the criminal justice system.
Survey:
Very important resources for everyone, especially those who are unfamiliar with legal mechanisms, who are facing family court proceedings or employment tribunals in NI.
Travellers find it extremely difficult to get access to justice so free law clinics are invaluable!
As part of our
#WeDoProBono
work, we've developed online information materials & navigation tools to help people who are facing family court proceedings or an employment tribunal in N.Ireland ⤵️
Family court:
Employment tribunals:
@TravellerRacism
Whilst this did crack me up a little about the innocence of kids.
It also shows that racism is learned behaviour from others and can ‘easily’ be changed.
It’ll be a slow process but it’s already happening ❤️
It would be fantastic to see more Travellers pursuing tertiary education.
I hope this access scheme is being highlighted by the Irish Traveller orgs to Travellers in the state!
I’ve decided that one use of this page will be to highlight both the discrimination that Travellers face and how it affects our mental health.
So on that note
I should be excited about going out tonight with family, but I can’t help worry that we may get turned away.
Stress!
“We spent so much time in graveyards burying people, the graveyard actually became a playground for our children and ourselves”
Very powerful words from Mags Casey in regard to losing 29 members of her family to suicide in this interview with
@NewstalkFM
The post below should be taken down, promoting racist stereotypes, and then also having a joke at domestic abuse
The “Travelers wife” because its black and blue. A post and a pub promoting this racism is disgusting behavior. I urge my followers to report the post linked below
“Representing their community and culture, the women feel that their greatest success is changing the mindset of the younger generations around education”
It’s great to see more Travellers enacting change through action!
Well done everyone!
@SETUIreland
Great work
@flacireland
and
@tejpucc
!
It is terrible that Travellers need to resort to such measures to fight discrimination, but hopefully more judgements like this will help end the endemic refusal of services based purely on Traveller ethnicity!
@TravellerRacism
This reminds me of what happened to my niece last year, she’s in primary school and one of her friends said to her ‘my mummy says you’re a Traveller’ to which my niece shockingly replied ‘OH NO! What’s that?!’, cue both shrugging shoulders and heading to the swings.
@BBCNewsNI
Breaks my heart to admit this, but even if an early election was called.
We would most likely still end up with the same parties dominating the political landscape.
We have a broken system, and we all suffer due to it.
📅 Tomorrow at 10:30 am: Social Security on the Island of Ireland with
@ulsterlawclinic
@SocialPolicyUK
The All-Island Social Security Network brings together researchers to imagine a new future for social security on the island of Ireland.
Learn more at
Every time I see a video like this, I can’t help but suffer the effects of vicarious trauma.
I’ve been on the receiving end of this sort of treatment more times than I can count, and is the primary reason why I study law.
@love_prezzo
do you you condone this unlawful behaviour?
@love_prezzo
why is one of your managers discriminating against a mother and her children? We all know the usual spiel, "we're fully booked". Even though the restaurant was practically empty. Even other people who were dinning left after they saw what happened.
#discri
UKSC:
“We have considerable doubt as to whether it could ever be justifiable to grant a Gypsy or Traveller injunction which is directed to persons unknown, including newcomers, and extends over the whole borough or for significantly more than a year.”
This is what happens when racism is allowed to run unchallenged!
Sadly, there’s been a lot of Romani people killed by police in Europe and it must end!
#JusticeForChristos
17-year-old Romani boy
#ChristosMichalopoulos
was murdered by police on Saturday night in Greece. Yesterday, his schoolteacher called for justice:
"His name is Christos Michalopoulos; he was my student, my son's classmate. His murder cannot go unpunished."
#JusticeForChristos
'My policy would be live and let live.'
Mary Warde Moriarty (Doctor of Laws (LLD)) received an honorary degree at today's conferring in the Bailey Allen Hall, Mary, a traveller, human rights activist, and author, has worked tirelessly for nearly 50 years to advance Traveller
📢 We're hiring a Legal Assistant to provide administrative and legal support to PILC’s Gypsy and Traveller Legal Advice project.
⏰ Full-time (35hrs)
📅 12 months fixed-term (possibility of extension)
💷 £25,000–£28,000
⏳ Deadline 8 December
Apply now:
“Racism towards most ethnic minority groups is now hidden, less frequently expressed in public, and widely seen as unacceptable. However, that towards Gypsies and Travellers is still common, frequently overt and seen as justified.”
Seen as justified! 😔
In the last thirty minutes I’ve seen a car trying to park on a pedestrian crossing whilst being shouted at, and two other people loudly argue over a parking space… it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas🎅
#FeelingFestive
Happy International Human Rights Day!
“… guarantees the rights of every individual everywhere, without distinction based on nationality, place of residence, gender, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, or any other status.”
Don’t let the
#IrelandIsFull
or
#IrelandBelongsToTheIrish
crowd fool you.
They make bold claims about looking after ‘their own’ yet how many have actually tried to look after Travellers?
I don’t see too many advocating for Traveller rights.
This is very bittersweet to read, fantastic they got some form of compensation but absolutely disgusting that Travellers still need to fight against such blatant discrimination.
Good. "A Travellers' rights advocate has won a discrimination case and must get €6,500 compensation and an apology from the head of JD Wetherspoons after the chain's Dun Laoghaire pub refused to serve her a drink." via
@breakingnewsie
“1 in 20 people in prison identifies as Gypsy Roma and Traveller (GRT). Many people from GRT backgrounds report not having attended school often, and as a result, struggle with their reading.”
Two very saddening statistics on their own, but when combined it’s even worse!
“I still find some things difficult but being able to read has boosted my confidence hugely."
Shannon Trust is a charity which works in prisons to support people to learn to read. Read more about their work here 👇
“The two-child limit came as a surprise, as it had not been mentioned in the Conservative Party election manifesto nor discussed in conservative or other think-tanks prior to its publication.”
Says it all really.
@samjennrr
I feel that it warrants an inquiry by
@NHSEngland
@NHSuk
to determine the extent of the failings in relation to Travellers and Gypsies in the UK.
@RishiSunak
I didn’t realise that the UK Supreme Court is now considered a foreign court…
On a serious note, be wary of any political party that wants to dilute your rights.
It’s not for your benefit.
This has been an outstanding event - huge credit to
@C_Fitz_
who has not just organised this but been tweeting throughout the event to share some of the insights from the excellent presentations 👏👏👏
I’ve recently visited the Royal Courts of Justice and I’d highly recommend people to take up this opportunity!
I truly enjoyed having a look around plus there’s a cute little pub just across the road from it! 🫣😄
🌟 Exciting Opportunity!
🏛️ Join the Traveller Movement for an educational visit to the Royal Courts of Justice on Feb 21, 1-3 pm.
Explore Hate Crime through an interactive workshop.
Open to 16-25-year-olds.
Contact youth
@travellermovement
.org.uk to sign up. 📚
“She noted official statistics showed at least 80% of Travellers would have difficulty meeting the requirements to obtain a credit card.”
“However, she ruled that the policy indirectly discriminated against her as a Traveller.”
@RomTravellerSW
I wonder how they determine the ‘severity’ of Travellers, also what would the management recommend on each ‘severity’ level?
But rather than blindly speculate, I hope that
@FOrushdenlakes
will advise?