Report sets out effects of Traveller feuding

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Author: KITTY HOLLAND
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

minority of the community with far-reaching negative consequences for the majority, a report on the issue has found

These include mental health difficulties, homelessness, discrimination, injury and in some instances death, according to the study from the Traveller Counselling Service, Exchange House and the Traveller Mediation Service.

Social media is fuelling violence between some families, exacerbating the issue which has its root causes in the poverty, marginalisation and powerlessness, it says.

The report, The Impact of Traveller Interfamily Conflict on Individuals and Families, draws on research conducted in April and May 2023 with four focus groups as well as 38 in-depth interviews, including with 32 Travellers with direct experience or insight into violent feuding. Other interviewees included gardaí and members of Traveller organisations.

The project arose following a 2019 conference on the issue and was “co-created by the three Traveller organisations and the ‘settled’ researcher [Dr Sarah Sartori, a researcher specialising in higher education at southeast Technological University]“.

Publication of the report tomorrow will coincide with a conference, Travellers Transforming Conflict, at Dublin Castle to be addressed by Minister for Children and Equality Roderic O’Gorman.

Bare-knuckle fighting

The report says feuding is “historically linked to the culture of bare-knuckle fighting by which a male Irish Traveller upheld his family’s honour” but has evolved in recent years “to typically...