'State' continues to be a 'cold house' for Irish Travellers

Schoolboy, Paddy Flynn, has brought Traveller issues very much to the fore in recent weeks. In this edited extract from his PhD project, Trinity student and author Frankie Gaffney, argues the Irish 'state' has and continues to be a 'cold house' for Irish Travellers and it is time to remedy that before making any exhortations to pride in our nation. 

IN June of 2015 six Irish students were killed when a balcony they were partying on collapsed in the university town of Berkeley California. It is suspected that poor construction and / or maintenance was at least partly to blame.

Just a few months later, ten Irish Travellers perished in a horrific fire. Overcrowding and inadequate provision of Traveller housing has been cited as a contributory cause of the death toll. Five of those who died were children under the age of ten.