Irish Travellers

"Tinkers" redirects here. For other uses, see Tinkers (disambiguation).

Irish Travellers (Irish: Lucht siúlta) are an itinerant people of Irish origin living in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States. It is estimated that 25,000 Travellers live in Ireland, between 200,000 and 300,000 in Great Britain and 7,000 in the United States .

They refer to themselves as "Pavees". In Irish, Travellers are called an Lucht siúil (literally "the people of walking"). Many non-Pavee people (or "Buffers", sometimes "Rooters") still use the terms Knackers, Gypsies, Pikeys, Diddies or Tinkers from the Irish tincéirí, sg. tincéir or "tinsmith." Rarely, Travellers were referred to as the "Walking People" by English speakers in Ireland.

Origins

The historical origins of Travellers as a group has been a subject of great dispute. Some argue that Irish Travellers are descended from another nomadic people called the Tarish. It was once widely believed that Travellers were descended from landowners who were made homeless in Oliver Cromwell's military campaign in Ireland and in the 1840s famine. However, their origins may be more complex and difficult to ascertain because through their history the Travellers have left no written records of their own. Furthermore, not all families of the Travellers date back to the same point in time; some adopted Traveller customs centuries ago while others did so in more modern times yet all claim ancient origins regardless of noted assumption of the habits and customs.

Dr. Sharon Gmelch, who has studied and written about the Travellers, states that the Dooley Clan is acknowledged by other Travellers as one of the "oldest families on the road." . There are also many Irish people surnamed Dooley who are not Travellers.

Genetic studies indicate that the Roma of Eastern Europe are "isolates", but Irish Travellers are sometimes considered to be derived from the general Irish population, as indicated by surnames. However, genetic studies by Miriam Murphy, David Croke, and other researchers identified certain genetic diseases common in the Irish Traveller population which are quite rare among the rest of the community, perhaps resulting from marriage only within the Traveller community, or suggesting descent from either a select group of Irish long ago or ancestors unrelated to the rest of the Irish population.

Language and customs

Main article: Shelta language

Irish Travellers distinguish themselves from the settled communities of the countries in which they live by their own language and customs. The language is known as Shelta, and there are two dialects of this language, Gammon (or Gamin) and Cant. It has been dated back to the eighteenth century, but may be older than that.

Travellers are keen breeders of dogs such as greyhounds and lurchers. They also have a longstanding interest in horses, and the main horse fair associated with them is still held every year at Ballinasloe.

Informal boxing is a rare Traveller sport, but is not exclusive to them.

Cultural suspicion and conflict

Irish Travellers are recognised in British law as an ethnic group. The Republic of Ireland, however, does not recognise them as an ethnic group; rather, their legal status is that of a "social group".

In Ireland and in Britain, Travellers are often referred to as "gypsies", "diddycoy", tinker or knacker. These terms refer to services that were traditionally provided by the Travellers: tinkering (or tinsmithing) being the mending of tin ware such as pots and pans, and knackering being the acquisition of dead or old horses for slaughter. Irish Travellers are sometimes referred to as Gypsies in Ireland and in Britain (the term more accurately refers to the Roma people, represented in Britain by the Romanichal and Kale). The derogatory terms pikey and gyppo (derived from Gypsy) are also heard in Great Britain whilst the term creamer (rhyming slang of "cream cracker", hence knacker) is occasionally used in Ireland.

The Traveller lifestyle has often produced friction with local communities, especially in urban areas. Friction between Traveller and local community are caused by increased crime following Traveller arrival in an area.

A recent report published in Ireland states that over half of Travellers do not live past the age of 39 years.

Disputes over land use

A complaint against Travellers in the United Kingdom is that of unauthorised Traveller sites being established on privately owned land or on council-owned land not designated for that purpose. Designated sites for Travellers' use are provided by the council, and funds are made available to local authorities for the construction of new sites, as well as the maintenance and extension of existing sites, under the government's "Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant". However, Travellers also frequently make use of other, non-authorised sites, including public "common land" and private plots including large fields. Travellers claim that there is an under-provision of authorised sites - the Gypsy Council estimates an under-provision amounts to insufficient sites for 3,500 people - and that their use of non-authorised sites as an alternative is therefore unavoidable.

Travellers are often involved in robbery, cons, violence and other delinquent behaviour. An 11 October 2002 Dateline NBC episode found that American Travelers habitually defraud their neighbours, demanding high prices for substandard day labour . A consequent investigation by South Carolina law enforcement resulted in a single conviction for fraud and a handful of truancy violations.

The Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs issued a press release on March 14 2007 entitled "Irish Travellers Perpetuate a Tradition of Fraud."

Traveller advocates, along with the Commission for Racial Equality in the UK, counter that Travellers are a distinct ethnic group with an ancient history, and claim that there is no statistical evidence that Traveller presence raises or lowers the local crime rate.

The struggle for equal rights for these transient people led to the passing of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 that for some time safeguarded their rights, lifestyle and culture in the UK. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, however, 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.

Planning issues in the UK

Recent criticism against Travellers in the UK centres on Travellers who have bought land, built amenities without planning permission, then fought eviction attempts by claiming it would be an abuse of human rights to remove them from their homes. The families applied for retrospective planning permission whilst they were living on their land. This received much media attention during the British 2005 General Election.

The use of retrospective planning permission arose after the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which Michael Howard brought through the Commons, started closing down many of the sites originally provided for the community. Howard advised that Travellers should buy their own land instead and assurances were made that they would be allowed to settle it, despite allegations that Travellers find it difficult to secure planning permission approval.

Demographics

The census of 2006 reported 22,435 Irish Travellers living in Eire. Of them, 20,975 were in Urban areas and 1,460 were living in Rural areas. In Tuam, Travellers constituted 7.71% of the total population. But overall the figure for Eire was 0.5%. 9,301 Travellers were there in the 0-14 age rage comprising 41.5% of all the Travellers. A further 3,406 of them were in the 15-24 age range comprising 15.2%. Children of age range 0-17 comprised 48.7% of the Traveller population. Birth rate of Irish Travellers have plummeted since 1990s. But they still have one of the highest birth rates in Europe. The Birth Rate for the Traveller community for the year 2005 was 33.32 per 1000. (Possibly the highest birth rate recorded for any community in Europe. For comparison, the Irish National Average was 15.0 in 2007. ). [1]

Members of the Traveller community are 10 times more likely to die in road accidents. This, at 22 per cent, represented the most common cause of death among Traveller males. Infants are 10 times more likely to die before reaching the age of two, while a third of Travellers die before the age of 25. In addition, 80 per cent of travellers die before the age of 65. Some 10 per cent of Traveller children die before their second birthday, compared to just 1 per cent of the general population. In Ireland, 2.6 per cent of all deaths in the total population were for people aged under 25 versus 32 per cent for the Travellers. [2] [3]

In addition to Eire, Travellers also live in other parts of the world. There are 1,500 of them in Ulster and 15,000 in other parts of UK. A further 7,000 lives in USA. [4]

Irish Travellers in popular culture

Irish Travellers have been portrayed on numerous occasions in popular culture.

• The Riches is an ongoing FX television series starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy; the father and mother of a family of Irish Traveller con artists and thieves. The series revolves around their decision to steal the identities of a dead "Buffer" family and hide out in their lavish mansion in suburban Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• In Season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in Episode 18, "Up the Long Ladder", which aired on May 22, 1989, the Enterprise encounters a society, the Bringloidis, (cf brionglóid: meaning dream in the Irish language), that was founded by humans who left Earth centuries earlier to found a colony. They appear to be descended from Irish Travellers, possessing their accented form of the English language and a culture that appears very similar.
• Season 2, Episode 21 of the NBC television show Law & Order: Criminal Intent titled "Graansha" focuses around the murder of a female probation officer who springs from a family of Irish Travellers.
• Into the West tells the story of two Traveller boys running away from their drab home in Dublin.
• In the Irish television soap opera The Riordans (1964-1979), many issues affecting the Traveller community were portrayed through the challenges faced by the Maher family.
• The film Snatch features Brad Pitt as a comically stereotyped "Pikey" who is also a bareknuckle boxing champion. In one humorous incident, his Traveller Clan defrauds the film's protagonists by selling them a caravan that falls apart the minute they try to tow it from the premises.
• The film Rob Roy features Liam Neeson and details the exploits of the early 18th century highland clan leader Rob Roy MacGregor. The film opens with the clansmen retrieving stolen cattle from robbers they call "tinkers." Later on the wife of Rob Roy, when commenting on potential economic misfortunes for their clan, dismisses any relationship between their status and that of "tinkers."
• The film Chocolat includes Johnny Depp as Roux, a leader of a group of Irish travellers.
• Traveller is another film, starring Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, and Julianna Margulies.
• The rural Irish sitcom Killinaskully (2003 - present) features a Traveller character named Pa Connors, played by Pat Shortt.
• The Popular Youtube Video "Oy! Irish Gypsies" displays the typical Irish Gypsy stereotypes [5]
• The 2004 movie Man About Dog features a group of Irish Traveller characters.
• The documentary, Southpaw: The Francis Barrett Story, won the Audience Prize at the 1999 New York Irish Film Festival. It followed Galway boxer Francis (Francie) Barrett for three years and showed Francie overcoming discrimination as he progressed up the amateur boxing ranks to eventually carry the Irish flag and box for Ireland at the age of 19 during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Francie turned professional in August 2000 and now fights at light welterweight, out of Wembley, London .
• A documentary-style drama release in 2005, Pavee Lackeen (Traveller Girl), depicted the life of a young Traveller girl, and featured non-actors in the lead roles. Its director and co-writer, Perry Ogden, won an IFTA Award in the category of Breakthrough Talent.
• During 2004's "Live at Vicar Street" recorded by newly reformed Irish folk act Planxty, Christy Moore mentions hearing Traveller John Reilly sing for the first time and calls it a "Life Changing" experience, going on to dedicate the song "As I Roved Out" to the memory of John Reilly.
• FightGame and Firefight by Kate Wild are teenage/ya novels with a charismatic gypsy boy hero called Freedom Smith. They are thriller/sci fi based but they also deal with the real problems gypsies and travellers face
• The 2007 film Strength and Honour deals with a man joining a Traveller boxing tournament in order to win money for his son's operation.

See also

• Pavee Point Organisation
• Nomad
• Romani people
• Yeniche people
• Scottish Travellers
• Pikey

References

Laois Nationalist - 2007/12/06: Families evicted from halt site

Resources

• My Life On The Road ISBN 978-1-899047-58-1, by Nan Joyce, First published 1985 and republished 2000.
• Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling Woman (ISBN 0-88133-602-5), by Sharon Gmelch, 1991.
• The Irish Tinkers: The Urbanization of an Itinerant People (ISBN 0-88133-158-9), by George Gmelch, 1997, 2nd ed. 1985.
• The Road to God Knows Where (ISBN 1-85390-314-0), by Sean Maher, Talbot Press, Dublin 1972, republished by Veritas 1998.
• Becoming Conspicuous: Irish Travelers, Society and the State 1922-70 (ISBN 1-904558-61-5), by Aoife Bhreatnach, University College Dublin Press 2006

External links

• Irish Radio Documentary
• Traveller Heritage and Photo Site from Navan Travelers Workshops
• Irish Travelers' Movement
• Pavee Point Travelers Centre
• Bibliography of Irish Travelers sources - University of Liverpool
• Irish Medical Journal article "Traveller Health: A National Strategy 2002-2005"
• Francie Barrett boxing profile
• Official site for movie - Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl
• The Travelers: Ireland's Ethnic Minority
• The site of the French office of study NBNS, specialized in the reception of the Travelers in France, country where the reception of the Travelers people is centred by law.
• Interview with local expert on Dale Farm