Traveller mortality rate akin to ‘a third-world country’

THE Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin has described the findings of a report which shows half of all Irish Travellers die before the age of 40 as something more akin to “a third-world country”.

It was the first major study on mortality rates in the Travelling community in two decades.

The survey revealed almost one-third of all Traveller deaths occur in people aged 24 or less compared to just 2.6% of deaths among the same age group in the general population.

Dr Martin said such a high rate of mortality among young Travellers represented “figures of a third-world country rather than those of a prosperous Ireland”.

The study, Traveller’s Last Rights, examined the deaths of all 255 Travellers (including 48 children) notified to the Parish of the Travelling People in the Dublin area between 1995 and 2004.

It showed members of the Travelling community still only have the life expectancy associated with the general population in the 1940s.

Launching the report, Dr Martin said anyone reading its findings would be moved to sadness and anger at the disadvantage faced by Travellers.

“I have a feeling that Ireland’s new-found prosperity has, if anything, dimmed our awareness of the situation of the Travelling community,” said the archbishop.

Dr Martin also expressed concern that “trickle-down” social policies had not worked for a community “where disadvantage sadly touches so many aspects of their lives”.

One of the report’s authors, Jacinta Brack, said deaths rates among young male Travellers from road accidents and suicide were disproportionately high.

However, deaths from cancer and heart disease were significantly lower than the general population because Travellers had died much younger from other causes, she added.

Fr Stephen Monaghan, parish priest of the Parish of the Travelling Community, said the deaths of so many young Travellers had an enormous impact on their community as there was often a close relationship between many of those who had died.

“A pall of depression hangs over many Traveller families with many living in mortal fear of being struck by another tragedy,” he said.

The report makes a number of recommendation on ways to improve contact between Travellers and hospital staff, clergy and gardaí.