For other uses of the term see Traveler (disambiguation).

Irish Travellers in 1946.

Irish Travellers (Irish: an lucht siúil) or Pavee are a traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin, who maintain a separate language and set of traditions.^[1][2] They live predominantly in the Republic of Ireland as well as having large numbers in the United Kingdom and in the United States.^[2][3]

Etymology[link]

Travellers refer to themselves as Minceir or Pavees in their own language or in Irish as an Lucht Siúil, meaning literally "the walking people".

Travellers are often referred to by the terms tinkers, knackers or itinerants in Ireland. While in other countries the term gypsies^[4] or didicoy can be used to describe the community.^[5] Some of these terms refer to services that were traditionally provided by them, tinkering (or tinsmithing), for example, being the mending of tinware such as pots and pans, and knackering, being the acquisition of dead or old horses for slaughter. Tinker and especially knacker is used as a pejorative against Travellers in Ireland.

The term gypsy first appeared in record in the 16th century from a category of people thought to be Egyptians.^[6] Other names, specifically derogatory, such as pikey^[7] and gypo or gippo^[8] (derived from Gypsy) are also heard, though rarely in Ireland itself.

Didicoy is a Romani term for a child of mixed Romani and non-Romani parentage; as applied to the Travellers, it refers to the fact that they are not Gypsy by ethnicity but Irish by blood and lead a similar yet distinct lifestyle.^[9]

Distribution[link]

Ireland[link]

An Irish Traveller in Dublin watches neighbouring children play from her caravan window in 2011.

The 2006 census in the Republic of Ireland reported the number of Irish Travellers as 22,369.^[10] A further 1,700 to 2,000 were estimated to live in Northern Ireland.^[11]

From the 2006 Irish census it was determined that 20,975 dwell in urban areas and 1,460 were living in rural areas. With an overall population of just 0.5% some areas were found to have a higher proportion, with Tuam, Galway Travellers constituting 7.71% of the population. There were found to be 9,301 Travellers in the 0-14 age range, comprising 41.5% of the Traveller population, and 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.

Following the findings of the All Ireland Traveller Health Study (estimates for 2008), the figure for Northern Ireland was revised to 3,905 and that for the Republic to 36,224.^[12]

Great Britain[link]

Statistics for Irish Travellers in the UK do not exist, although in 2011, for the first time, the census categorised Romanies (including Roma) and Irish Travellers as distinct ethnic groups. Recent estimates of Travellers living in Great Britain range between 15,000^[13] and 300,000^[14].

The London Boroughs of Harrow and Brent contain significant Irish Traveller populations. In addition to those on various official sites there are a number who are settled in Local Authority Housing. These are mostly women who wish their children to have a chance at a good education. They and the children may or may not travel in the summer but remain in close contact with the wider Traveller community.^{[citation needed]}

United States[link]

Due to the level of secrecy of the group, there are no official or legitimate population figures regarding Travellers in the United States.^[15] In fact, Irish Travellers are not recognized as a unique ethnic group by the U.S. Census.^[15] While some sources estimate their population in the U.S. to be 10,000, others suggest their population is 40,000. According to research by Mary E. Andereck, "the Georgia Travelers' camp is made up of about eight hundred families, the Mississippi Travelers, about three hundred families, and the Texas Travelers, under fifty families."^[15]

Travellers in the United States are descendants of Travellers who left Ireland mostly during the Great Irish Famine of 1845-60. Travelers in the U.S. divide themselves up into groups that are based on historical residence: Ohio Travelers, Georgia Travelers, Texas Travelers, and Mississippi Travelers.^[15] The largest and most affluent population of about 2,500 lives in Murphy Village, outside of the town of North Augusta, South Carolina.^[16] Other communities exist near White Settlement, Texas, where the families stay in their homes during the winter, and leave during the summer, while smaller enclaves can be found across Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.^[17]

Travelers in the U.S. are said to speak English and Cant.^[15] The Cant spoken in the U.S. differs from the Cant spoken in Ireland, in that the language has transformed into a type of pidgin English over the generations.^[15] They typically work in asphalting, spray painting, laying linoleum, or as itinerant workers to earn their living.^[15]

Origins[link]

The historical origins of Irish Travellers as an ethnic group has been a subject of academic and popular debate. Such discussions have been difficult as Irish Travellers left no written records of their own.^{[18] [19]} In 2011 an analysis of DNA from 40 Travellers was undertaken at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and the University of Edinburgh. The study provided evidence that Irish Traveller's are a distinct Irish ethnic minority, who separated from the settled Irish community at least 1000 years ago; the claim was made that they are distinct from the settled community as Icelanders are from Norwegians.^[20] Even though all families claim ancient origins, not all families of Irish Travellers date back to the same point in time; some families adopted Traveller customs centuries ago, while others did so more recently.^[21] It is unclear how many Irish Travellers would be included in this distinct ethnic group at least from a genetic perspective.

A wide range of theories also speculated they were descended from ancestors who were made homeless by Oliver Cromwell's military campaign in Ireland, in the 1840s famine; or the descendants of aristocratic nomadism the Clan Murtagh O'Connors in the late middle ages. Their nomadism was based on cattle-herds or 'creaghts'.

There is evidence by the 12th century the name Tynkler and Tynker emerged in reference to a group of nomads who maintained a separate identity, social organization, and dialect.^[18] The genetic evidence indicates Irish Travellers have been a distinct ethnic group in the Ireland for at least a millennium.

Language[link]

Irish Travellers speak English and sometimes one of two dialects of Shelta, Gammon (or Gamin) and Cant. Shelta has been dated back to the 18th century, but may be older.^[22] Cant, which derives from Irish Gaelic, is a combination of English and Shelta.^[15]

Religion[link]

Travellers have a distinctive approach to religion; the vast majority are Roman Catholics with particular attention paid to issues of healing.^[23] They have been known to follow a strict ethos called 'The Travellers Code' that dictates their moral beliefs and can influence their actions.^[24]

Education[link]

Traveller children often grow up outside of educational systems.^[25] The Irish Traveller Movement, a community advocacy group, promotes equal access to education for Traveller children.^[26]

In December 2010, the Irish Equality Tribunal ruled in favour of a traveller child in an anti-discrimination suit covering the admission practices of CBS High School Clonmel in County Tipperary.^[27] This suit may allow more children from the Traveller community to enter mainstream educational institutions.

Health[link]

The health of Irish Travellers is significantly poorer than that of the general population in Ireland. This is evidenced in a 2007 report published in Ireland, which states that over half of Travellers do not live past the age of 39 years.^[28] Another government report of 1987 found:

From birth to old age, they have high mortality rates, particularly from accidents, metabolic and congenital problems, but also from other major causes of death. Female Travellers have especially high mortality compared to settled women.^[29]

In 2007, the Department of Health and Children in the Republic of Ireland, in conjunction with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland, commissioned the University College Dublin's School of Public Health and Population Science to conduct a major cross-border study of Travellers' welfare. The study, including a detailed census of Traveller population and an examination of their health status, is expected to take up to three years to complete.^[30]

The birth rate of Irish Travellers has decreased since the 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 1,000, possibly the highest birth rate recorded for any community in Europe. By comparison, the Irish national average was 15.0 in 2007.^{[31][not in citation given]}

On average there are ten times more driving fatalities within the Traveller community. At 22%, this represents the most common cause of death among Traveller males. Some 10% of Traveller children die before their second birthday, compared to just 1% of the general population. In Ireland, 2.6% of all deaths in the total population were for people aged under 25, versus 32% for the Travellers.^[32][33] In addition, 80% of Travellers die before the age of 65.

Marriage[link]

Since there are no necessary requirements in owning land or a house in the culture of Irish Travellers, they are free to be as financially independent as desired. Couples tend to marry young: girls at around the age of 16 or 17, and boys between 18 and 19.^[6]

Population genetics[link]

A genetic analysis of Irish Travellers found evidence to support the hypotheses of: (1) Irish ancestry; (2) several distinct subpopulations; and (3) the distinctiveness of the midland counties due to Viking influence ^[34].

Genetic studies by Miriam Murphy, David Croke, and other researchers identified certain genetic diseases such as galactosemia that are more common in the Irish Traveller population, involving identifiable allelic mutations that are rarer among the rest of the community.

Two main hypotheses have arisen, speculating whether:

1. this resulted from marriages made largely within and among the Traveller community, or
2. suggesting descent from a original Irish carrier long ago with ancestors unrelated to the rest of the Irish population.^[35]

They concluded that: "The fact that Q188R is the sole mutant allele among the Travellers as compared to the non-Traveller group may be the result of a founder effect in the isolation of a small group of the Irish population from their peers as founders of the Traveller sub-population. This would favour the second, endogenous, hypothesis of Traveller origins."

More specifically, they found that Q188R was found in 100% of Traveller samples, and in 89% of other Irish samples, indicating that the Traveller group was typical of the larger Irish indigenous population.^[36]

Social conflict and controversies[link]

Anti-Traveller prejudice[link]

A 2011 survey by the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland concluded that there is widespread ostracism of Travellers in Ireland, and the report concluded that this could hurt the long-term prospects for Travellers, who "need the intercultural solidarity of their neighbours in the settled community . . . They are too small a minority, i.e., 0.5 per cent, to survive in a meaningful manner without ongoing and supportive personal contact with their fellow citizens in the settled community."^[37]

Income[link]

Many Travellers are breeders of dogs such as greyhounds or lurchers and have a long-standing interest in horse trading. The main fairs associated with them are held annually at Ballinasloe (Co. Galway), Puck Fair (Co. Kerry), Ballabuidhe Horse Fair (Co. Cork), the monthly Smithfield Horse Fair (inner Dublin) and Appleby (England). They are often involved in recycling scrap metals, e.g., 60% of the raw material for Irish steel is sourced from scrap metal, approximately 50% (75,000 metric tonnes) collected and segregated by the community at a value of more than £1.5 million. Such percentages for more valuable non-ferrous metals may be significantly greater.^[38]

Since the majority of Irish Travellers employment is either self-employment or wage labour, income and financial status varies greatly from family to family. Many families choose not to reveal the specifics of their finances, but when explained it is very difficult to detect any sort of pattern or regular trend of monthly or weekly income. In order to detect their financial status many look to the state of the possessions: their trailer, motor vehicle, domestic utensils, and any other valuables.^{[6][page needed]}

Social identity[link]

Irish Travellers are recognised in British law as an ethnic group.^[39] The Republic of Ireland, however, does not recognise them as an ethnic group; rather, their legal status is that of a "social group".^[40] An ethnic group is defined as one whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry. Ethnic identity is also marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and by common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioural or biological traits.

The European Parliament Committee of Enquiry on Racism and Xenophobia found them to be among the most discriminated-against ethnic groups in Ireland^[41] and yet their status remains insecure in the absence of widespread legal endorsement.^[42] Travellers are often viewed by settled people in a negative light, perceived as insular, anti-social, 'drop-outs' and 'misfits',^[43] or believed to be involved in criminal and mendicant behaviour, or settling illegally on land owned by others.^{[25][page needed][44][not in citation given]}

Violence[link]

The Commission on Itinerancy, appointed in Ireland in 1960 under Charles Haughey, found that "public brawling fuelled by excessive drinking further added to settled people's fear of Travellers ... feuding was felt to be the result of a dearth of pastimes and [of] illiteracy, historically comparable to features of rural Irish life before the Famine."^[45]

In 2008 a faction fight riot broke out in D'Alton Park, Mullingar involving up to 65 people of the Nevin, Dinnegan and McDonagh families. The court hearing in 2010 resulted in suspended sentences for all the defendants.^[46][47] The cause may have been an unpaid gambling debt linked to a bare-knuckle boxing match.^[48]

Land disputes[link]

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. Under the government's "Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant", designated sites for Travellers' use are provided by the council, and funds are made available to local authorities for the construction of new sites and maintenance and extension of existing sites.

However, Travellers also frequently make use of other, non-authorised sites, including public "common land" and private plots such as large fields and other privately owned land. The 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.^[49] A famous example was Dale Farm in Essex.

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. In Northern Ireland, opposition to Travellers' sites has been led by the Democratic Unionist Party.^[43]

List of Irish Travellers[link]

Depictions and documentaries[link]

Irish Travellers have been depicted, usually negatively but sometimes with some care and sympathy in film, radio, and print. Shows like The Riches, (US TV Featuring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver) take a deeper look into the Traveller lifestyle. More recently, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings has been commercially successful in the United Kingdom, with descriptions of traveller life set around real-life weddings.

In 2010 amateur film-maker Ian Palmer recorded an epic 12-year journey, "Knuckle", showing the brutal and secretive world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle fighting. This film follows a history of violent feuding between rival clans.

The movie Pavee Lackeen depicts Irish Traveller lifestyle centered around a young girl and her struggles in life. ^[50]

See also[link]

• Halting site

Advocacy:

• Pavee Point Organisation

Groups:

• New Age travellers
• Romanichals
• Romani people
• Scottish Travellers
• Travelling Showmen

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bhreatnach, Aoife (2007). Becoming Conspicuous: Irish Travellers, Society and the State 1922-70. Dublin: University College Dublin Press. ISBN 1-904558-62-3. 
• Bhreatnach, Aoife; Breathnach, Ciara (2006). Portraying Irish Travellers: histories and representations. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press. ISBN 978-1-84718-055-1. 
• Burke, Mary (2009). 'Tinkers': Synge and the Cultural History of the Irish Traveller. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-956646-1. 
• Dillon, Eamon (2006). The Outsiders. Merlin Publishing. ISBN 1-903582-67-9. 
• Drummond, Anthony; Hayes, Micheál (ed.); Acton, Thomas (ed.) (2006). "Cultural Denigration: Media representation of Irish Travellers as Criminal". Counter-Hegemony and the Postcolonial "Other". Cambridge Scholars Press: Cambridge. pp. 75–85. ISBN 1-84718-047-7 
• Drummond, Anthony; Ồ hAodha, Micheál (2007). "The Construction of Irish Travellers (and Gypsies) as a Problem". Migrants and Memory: The Forgotten "Postcolonials". Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press. pp. 2–42. ISBN 978-1-84718-344-6 
• Drummond, Anthony (2007). Irish Travellers and the Criminal Justice Systems Across the Island of Ireland. University of Ulster (PhD thesis) 
• Gmelch, George (1985). The Irish Tinkers: the urbanization of an itinerant people. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press. ISBN 0-88133-158-9. 
• Gmelch, Sharon (1991). Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling Woman. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press. ISBN 0-88133-602-5. 
• Joyce, Nan; Farmar, Anna (ed.) (1985). Traveller: an autobiography. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-1388-0 
• Maher, Sean (1998). The Road to God Knows Where: A Memoir of a Travelling Boyhood. Dublin: Veritas Publications. ISBN 1-85390-314-0. 
• Merrigan, Michael (2009). Is there a Case for Indigenous Ethnic Status in Ireland (pp.101-115, Féil-Scríbhinn Liam Mhic Alasdair:Essays Presented to Liam Mac Alasdair, FGSI). Dublin: Genealogical Society of Ireland. ISBN 978-1-898471-67-7. 
• Ó hAodha, Micheál; Acton, Thomas (eds.) (2007). Travellers, Gypsies, Roma: The Demonisation of Difference. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press. ISBN 978-1-84718-055-1. 
• Sánchez, Eleuterio (1977). Camina o revienta: memorias de El Lute. Cuadernos para el diálogo.
• García Grande, María Remedios (2010). Ni una palabra más. Celaya Barturen, Beatriz; ISBN 978-84-614-1053-8.

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Irish Travellers

• Website about Irish travellers - www.irish-travellers.com
• Traveller Heritage and Photo Site from Navan Travellers Workshops
• Irish Travellers' Movement
• Pavee Point Travellers Centre
• National Association of Travellers' Centres
• Historical Resources for Research into the Social, Economic and Cultural History of Irish Travellers
• Traveller and Roma Collection at the University of Limerick
• The Travellers: Ireland's Ethnic Minority
• London Gypsy and Travellers Unit, Representing Traveller's issues in North and East London
• Friends, Families and Travellers. Advice and Information for Gypsies and Travellers, a UK-based charity.

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Joseph "Joe" Joyce (born March 18, 1961 in Consett, County Durham) is an English former footballer and currently appointed Academy Manager at Newcastle United.

Playing career[link]

Joyce started his career as a junior with Barnsley in 1979 and went on to make more than 350 appearances for them. He then moved onto Scunthorpe, before hanging up his boots at Carlisle in 1998.^[1]

Coaching career[link]

Joyce arrived in July 2006 at Newcastle to become Academy Manager, having earlier worked as the PFA's Head of Coaching.^{[1] [2]}

In May 2008 it was rumored that Peter Taylor was being lined up as new director of Newcastle United's academy and thereby replacing Joyce but Taylor decided to become manager of Wycombe Wanderers instead.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joe Joyce career stats at Soccerbase

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