An uncomfortable truth: Condemn assault

LIFE is not a hymn sheet, which is why nobody has the right to expect that everyone should be on the same page as them.

However, it appears that the Travellers rights organisation Pavee Point, the Equality Authority and at least one member of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties wishes it were.

In April of last year, Martin Collins of Pavee Point and an employee of the ICCL, acting in ‘a personal capacity’ sought to bring criminal charges against Irish Daily Mail columnist Brenda Power for criticising violence in Traveller culture.

It followed a savage attack on Olympian boxer John Joe Nevin. The EA and Pavee Point called for the article to be withdrawn.

Surely one of the principal tenets of liberty is the freedom to express a view, even if it includes an uncomfortable truth – in this case the reality that there is an acceptance and normalisation of violence within Traveller culture that should be challenged by all those who care about that community.

Those deluded libertarians could start by condemning loudly the Travellers who so brutally assaulted Mr Nevin.