Travellers 'should have own schools'
Public attitudes hamper integration
Separate schools would allow travellers to properly preserve cultural traits and the handing on of the Traveller tradition to the young, a leading sociologist has claimed.
Fr Micheal MacGreil said that the position of Travellers in Ireland today is one of "informal apartheid".
He said public attitudes to Travellers indicated a level of intolerance which makes it difficult for the State to implement a policy of pluralist integration based on equality.
"In such circumstances the State may be forced to defend Travellers' rights against public opinion," he told a seminar, 'Celebrating Traveller Culture', in the National Museum of Country Life in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
"Hopefully, when Travellers are treated adequately, their conditions will improve and, in turn, change the attitudes to more reasonable and just dispositions. This will reverse the negative vicious circle of antagonistic attitudes leading to cynical behaviour, resulting in deprived conditions. When conditions for Travellers are improved, the attitudes of the settled people will become positive and this will, in turn, lead to supportive behaviour."
He said there should be support for a degree of institutional duplication, including separate schools, to assist the preservation of cultural traits and the handing on of the Traveller tradition.
But he added that the young within the travelling community should be made aware of and urged to respect the norms of settled people.
"The young of the settled community should also be made familiar with the culture of Travellers and encouraged to respect it," he said.
He suggested opportunities of favourable contact between the settled and travelling communities should be fostered at local level, including gatherings like Church services, sport, informal entertainment and other joint projects.
He said anti-discrimination legislation should be enforced with great diligence and a special Ombudsperson for Travellers would be a worthwhile investment.
"The current overall situation of this minority is very serious and calls for urgent attention at national and local level. The arrival of non-Irish minorities to live in Ireland also deserves attention and the necessary support, but this is not a reason for us to neglect our indigenous minority, whose members are part of what we are," he said.
- JEROME REILLY
