Irish travellers and their association with Roma Gypsies

national | public consultation / irish social forum | opinion/analysis

Monday December 27, 2004 17:43

by Cathal Campbell-Shaw

cathal_campbell_shaw at mail dot ie

A paper on the subject entitled “The origins of the Irish Travellers and the genetic structure of Ireland” concludes that “the Travellers are undoubtedly of Irish ancestry, due to their proximity to the centroid. Furthermore, the Travellers clustered with several heterogeneous counties in Ireland, including Wexford and Westmeath. Therefore, these data support that the origin of the Travellers was not a sudden event; rather a gradual formation of populations. Indeed, the Travellers probably originated with craftsmen and artisans forced to leave their monasteries (Crawford 1975). Later, their population grew as they were joined by various Irish groups that were forced to leave their homes because of various calamities and political upheavals (i.e. the potato famine and the repression of British occupation) (Crawford 1975). However, the timing of the Traveller origin is not certain and may have predated the historical period (e.g. Ni Shuinear 1996).”

Hi,

Irish Travellers are often referred to as Gypsies and I’m intrigued to why this is.

A friend of mine and I were talking to a Traveller recently, and during our exchange with him the traveller made racist comments about African refugees who are housed near his halting site. My friend scolded him for this and remarked to me that it was ironic that a traveller would make racist statements about others.

This is an example of how there is a perception in Ireland that Travellers are not racially Irish, and to be honest I see no evidence to support this.

A paper on the subject entitled “The origins of the Irish Travellers and the genetic structure of Ireland” [Ann Hum Biol 2000 Sep-Oct;27(5):453-65 ] concludes that “the Travellers are undoubtedly of Irish ancestry, due to their proximity to the centroid. Furthermore, the Travellers clustered with several heterogeneous counties in Ireland, including Wexford and Westmeath. Therefore, these data support that the origin of the Travellers was not a sudden event; rather a gradual formation of populations. Indeed, the Travellers probably originated with craftsmen and artisans forced to leave their monasteries (Crawford 1975). Later, their population grew as they were joined by various Irish groups that were forced to leave their homes because of various calamities and political upheavals (i.e. the potato famine and the repression of British occupation) (Crawford 1975). However, the timing of the Traveller origin is not certain and may have predated the historical period (e.g. Ni Shuinear 1996).”

The language Shelta is simply a cryptic form of Gaelic, with letters jumbled around so that Travellers could communicate privately among themselves. Cailín is Laicín in Shelta.

So why are the associated with Gypsies? Is it simple a case that their nomadic lifestyle is similar to that of the Roma, or are we too embarrassed to accept Travellers as our own?

Regards,

Cathal.