Galway Travellers turn spotlight on Ireland’s ‘hidden housing crisis’
Members of Galway’s Traveller community joined compatriots from across the country in Dublin last weekend to demand that the Government urgently addresses what it called unsafe and substandard accommodation.
They were part of Saturday’s All-Island Housing Demonstration, organised by the Community Action Tenants Union, demanding action on housing on all fronts.
But the Traveller community wanted to highlight their specific issues – because, despite making up just one per cent of the population, they said they were drastically overrepresented in Ireland’s homeless population.
Accommodation Coordinator and spokesperson for the Traveller Homes Now at Galway Traveller Movement Nora Corcoran said that what was happening on many sites across the country was not just a housing issue, but a public health emergency.
“Across 18 halting sites and group housing schemes in Galway alone, families are living in overcrowded and unsafe conditions,” she said.
“On one site built on a former landfill, children are growing up next to toxic fumes and beside waste facilities,” she added.
Despite the formal recognition of Traveller ethnicity in 2017 and 30 years of advocacy by Galway Traveller Movement, Nora Corcoran says the wider system remains unchanged.
“We are witnessing the erasure of Traveller identity through ongoing neglect and inaction. We are a vibrant, resilient and proud community and we’re calling for meaningful change,” she said.
The Traveller Homes Now campaign calls for an immediate end to substandard living conditions in Galway City and County.
The campaign is demanding culturally appropriate accommodation, designed and delivered in full partnership with the Traveller community, and is urging the Government to address systemic discrimination in housing policy with transparency and accountability.
The campaign is further calling for legal recognition of nomadism, the provision of serviced sites, and the recognition of housing as a constitutional right for all.
“Traveller homelessness must be addressed through culturally appropriate services, as Travellers,” said Nora Corcoran.
Pictured: Nora Corcoran, Accommodation Coordinator and spokesperson for the Traveller Homes Now at Galway Traveller Movement.