Galway Travellers celebrate their unique culture, identity and heritage this week
Galway Travellers and Galway Traveller Movement will be celebrating Traveller identity, culture and heritage as part of Traveller Pride by hosting two events in Galway this week.
The events will take place at Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre on Thursday, May 28, and at Bohermore Community Centre on Friday, May 29, from 3pm-6pm.
They’re promising afternoons of family fun and entertainment with paper flower making, pocket making, storytelling and music. The wonders of the past will also be exhibited with the wattle tent, barrel-top wagon and an exhibition of Reimagining Life on the Road.
Galway Traveller Movement attended the Traveller Pride Award Ceremony last week in Dublin, where Bounce Back Recycling, a social enterprise, won the Enterprise and Employment Award.
Since 2017, Bounce Back Recycling, established by Galway Traveller Movement, has recycled and upcycled more than 250,000 bulky waste items, turning waste into wages and creating meaningful employment for a team of 23 people. The award was presented by Dr Kara McGann of IBEC.
Emma Ward from Athenry, a freelance journalist, disability rights activist and proud Irish Traveller, won the Intersectionality Award. Through her writing, media work and advocacy, she explores how different identities shape people’s experiences of discrimination, belonging and justice.
“These Traveller Pride Awards show there are many ways to be a Traveller,” said event host Tuam’s Martin Beanz Warde, comedian, dramatist, TV presenter and recently appointed National Co-ordinator of Traveller Pride Week.
“Our theme is ‘Looking Back, Moving Forward: Being an Individual While Celebrating Our Collective History’ – and these awards highlight individual identities while also celebrating pride in the community and contribution to wider society overall,” he said.
Nora Corcoran, Health Coordinator with GTM, alongside a 60-strong Traveller workforce in Galway Traveller Movement, said they are passionate about their Traveller identity.
Recently Children’s Books Ireland named Ms Corcoran as one of its Raising Voices Fellows for 2026. She has written fiction about Traveller children and their heritage to ensure these valuable stories are brought centre stage.
“Cultural expression, cultural action and the freedom to enjoy our cultural rights need to be recognised and resourced in order to maintain the connections with the past while growing our future,” she said.
Traveller Pride 2026 is supported by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.