Roma and Travellers celebrate International Roma Day

Members of the Roma community have joined Irish Travellers to celebrate "International Roma Day" today.

Celebrations and educational seminars are taking place throughout Europe, in a bid to win greater acceptance of Roma culture and to educate people about the Roma identity and gypsy culture.

Celebrations in Ireland are centred in the Travellers resource centre Pavee Point in Dublin, who say there are many similarities between the two groups.

Pavee Point director Ronnie Fay has said many Roma in Ireland suffer discrimination from State agencies.

She said: "Service providers and state agencies all acknowledge that Roma are the hardest to reach and the most marginalised group here.

"To date, no state agency has come up with funding to employ a community development worker to work with the Roma people and we feel this is very short-sighted."