Traveller rights groups have said they hope Council of Europe criticism of the Government for failing to provide adequate housing will put “pressure” on the authorities to address the problem.

When journalist Brenda Power claimed in a newspaper article that feuding was the main expression of Traveller culture and that Traveller males are lazy, violent, drunken, and misogynistic, she evoked a response that has not been seen since Mary Ellen Synon attacked the Paralympics in 2000.