Community group condemns violence outside church
A brawl between feuding Travellers occurred outside St Mary’s Church, Navan, Co Meath on Sunday, and was subsequently quelled by Fr Declan Hurley, who had just concluded Mass when the fight broke out.
Meath Travellers Workshop has since issued a statement in which it condemns “in the strongest possible terms the incident of violence that took place”.
“Behaviour of this kind is not representative of the Traveller community in Meath and we would like to distance, our good name, our staff, members and supporters from this upsetting incident,” it said.
“Meath Travellers Workshop has worked hard over the past 50 years to support Travellers in Navan. Over this time great strides have been made by both the settled and Traveller community in Navan to build a positive relationship of mutual respect and partnership.”
Meath Travellers Workshop said that it hopes the incident does not jeopardise its work in fostering relationships between the settled and Traveller communities.
“Navan Travelling families are upset and frustrated by this event and are concerned that what happened should in no way be a reflection on the Travelling population of Meath as a whole.
“We hope that this outrageous episode will be treated for what it is, a violent and rare act that must be investigated with the full rigours of the law. It is unacceptable that both the Settled and Traveller families in Navan cannot attend Mass without being exposed to such aggression. We commend Fr Hurley for his swift and decisive action and hope that this occurrence is not repeated,” the statement concluded.
A report regarding this incident that appeared in Monday’s Irish Examiner said it was believed that the fight involved members of the McDonagh and Joyce families. We are happy to clarify that neither of the families were involved in the incident.
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