Travellers dying too young, says support group

Irish Travellers are dying at too young an age and a review of the health issues affecting the community is long-overdue, a leading Traveller support group said today.

A major all-Ireland study launched this morning will spend three years looking at the factors influencing the health of the Travelling community.

It is the first report of its kind since the mid-1980s and has received support from health chiefs on both sides of the border.

It comes a fortnight after an investigation showed 80% of Travellers in the Republic who died in the last 10 years were under the age of 65.

Traveller support group Pavee Point welcomed the report’s launch, branding the community’s high mortality rate as unacceptable.

“The facts and figures that we have on Travellers are very old,” Pavee Point’s health programme spokeswoman Missie Collins said.

“We need new accurate figures to identify and address the issues affecting Traveller health such as accommodation, education, unemployment, discrimination, poverty and to tackle new emerging issues such as suicide in the Traveller community.”

“Travellers’ health status is significantly lower than that of the general Irish population.

“We are dying too young, only now living to the same age as settled people did in the 1940s.

“The Census 2006 shows that only 2.6% of Travellers are over the age of 65,” she said.

A study on mortality rates released just two weeks ago reveal a higher death rate among Travellers compared with the rest of the population, with half dying before their 39th birthday.

It also found little had changed since a report carried out in 1984 found Traveller life expectancy was equivalent to that of settled people in 1940s Ireland.

Ms Collins said it was important that Travellers and support organisations were involved in all aspects of the study.

“It’s very important that Travellers and Traveller organisations are involved in this study every step of the way”, she said.

“It will be Travellers talking to Travellers.

“We’ll get the information and data from our own people.

“It will be the first time that this approach will be used nationally to identify Travellers’ own health needs.”

The report was jointly commissioned by the Health Department in the Republic and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland.

It will be carried out by the School of Public Health and Population Science at University College Dublin (UCD)

Speaking at the launch, Health Minister Mary Harney said: “Traveller health is a priority area and considerable work has been undertaken, in consultation with the interest groups, in commissioning this study.

“The purpose of the study is to examine the health status of Travellers, to assess the impact of the health services currently being provided and to identify the factors which influence health status.

“It will provide a framework for policy development and practice in relation to Traveller health,” she said.

The UCD project team is chaired by Professor Cecily Kelleher, the head of the School of Public Health and Population Science and former director of the National Health and Lifestyle surveys.

Minister for Health Mary Harney says new research on travellers' health will enable the HSE to respond to their specific needs.