irish travellers or romani

• A Brief History Of Irish...

A Brief History of Irish Travellers, Ireland’s Only Indigenous Minority

After a long battle, Irish Travellers were finally officially recognised as an indigenous ethnic minority by Ireland’s government in early March 2017. Here, Culture Trip takes a look at the origins of the Irish Travelling community and how the historic ruling came about. At the time of the 2011 census , there were around 29,500 Irish Travellers in the Irish Republic , making up 0.6% of the population. The community was found to be unevenly distributed across the country, with the highest number living in County Galway and South Dublin. Although – as the name suggests – Irish Travellers have historically been a nomadic people, the census showed a majority living in private dwellings.

Throughout Irish history, the Travelling community has been markedly separated from the general Irish population, resulting in widespread stereotyping and discrimination. The same year as the census, a survey conducted by Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute found that Irish Travellers suffer widespread ostracism; this and other factors have been shown to contribute to high levels of mental health problems among Irish Travellers. Indeed, the 2010 All Ireland Traveller Health Study found their suicide rate to be six times the national average, accounting for a shocking 11% of Traveller deaths.

Through the 2011 census, members of the Travelling community were also found to have poorer general health, higher rates of disability and significantly lower levels of education as compared to the general population, with seven out of 10 Irish Travellers educated only to primary level or lower.

Because of a lack of written history, the exact origins of the Irish Travelling Community have been difficult to clarify. Although it had been hypothesised, until relatively recently, that Irish Travellers may be linked to the Romani people, a genetic study released in February of this year revealed this connection to be false.

The study found that Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin, but split off from the general population sometime around the mid-1600s – much earlier than had been thought previously. In one widely quoted finding, the DNA comparisons conducted in the course of the research found that while Irish Travellers originated in Ireland, they are genetically different from ‘settled’ Irish people, to the same degree as people from Spain.

The results of the study, conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Dublin, the University of Edinburgh and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, contributed significantly to Irish Travellers being officially designated an ethnic minority, defined as a group within a community with different national or cultural traditions from the main population.

Speaking to RTE on the day of the ruling, former director of the Irish Traveller Movement Brigid Quilligan said, ‘We want every Traveller in Ireland to be proud of who they are and to say that we’re not a failed set of people. We have our own unique identity, and we shouldn’t take on all of the negative aspects of what people think about us. We should be able to be proud and for that to happen our State needed to acknowledge our identity and our ethnicity, and they’re doing that today.’

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Gene study reveals Irish Travellers' ancestry

Irish Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin and have no particular genetic ties to European Roma groups, a DNA study has found.

The research offers the first estimates of when the community split from the settled Irish population, giving a rare glimpse into their history and heritage.

Researchers led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the University of Edinburgh analysed genetic information from 42 people who identified as Irish Travellers.

The team compared variations in their DNA code with that of 143 European Roma, 2,232 settled Irish, 2,039 British and 6,255 European or worldwide individuals.

Irish ancestry

They found that Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin but have significant differences in their genetic make-up compared with the settled community.

These differences have arisen because of hundreds of years of isolation combined with a decreasing Traveller population, the researchers say.

The findings confirm that the Irish Traveller population has an Irish ancestry and this comes at a time where the ethnicity of Travellers is being considered by the Irish State. Professor Gianpiero Cavalleri Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

The team estimates the group began to separate from the settled population at least 360 years ago.

Their findings dispute the theory that Travellers were displaced by the Great Famine, which struck Ireland in 1845.

It is exciting to find that the Irish Travellers have been genetically isolated for such a considerable time. They hold great potential for understanding common diseases, not just within their own community but also more generally. I hope very much that further funding will allow us to study the genetics of the Travellers in more detail. Professor Jim Wilson Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics

Tight community

There are estimated to be up to 40,000 Travellers living in Ireland, which represents less than one per cent of the population.

Little is known about the group's heritage and there is scant documentary evidence of their history.

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Related links

Journal article in Scientific Reports

RCSI press release

Jim Wilson's profile on Edinburgh Research Explorer

Gianpiero Cavalleri's profile at  RSCI

• PHOTOGRAPHY

Life With the Irish Travellers Reveals a Bygone World

One photographer spent four years gaining unprecedented access to this close-knit community.

When Birte Kaufmann first encountered Irish Travellers, she was on a trip with friends in the Irish countryside and saw a girl and her little brother running toward a roadside camp. The caravans and horses reminded Kaufmannn, who is German, of the Romany camps she had seen elsewhere in Europe, but the people looked intriguingly different.

Who were they, she wondered, and how could she delve deeper into their culture?

"People said, You'll never get an insight into that community—forget about it," Kaufmann recalls of sharing with Irish friends her burgeoning plans to photograph the close-knit Travellers.

An ethnic minority in Ireland , the Travellers have lived on the margins of mainstream Irish society for centuries. Efforts have been made to incorporate the nomadic group into mainstream culture by settling them into government housing and enforcing school attendance. But even living among "settled people," they face ongoing discrimination.

Kaufmann describes theirs as a parallel world, where deeply-rooted gender roles and an itinerant lifestyle have kept them apart from the broader Irish community even as their freedom to roam has become increasingly curtailed.

To gain access to the community, Kaufmann first attempted to engage through human rights groups that work with them—to no avail. So she decided to do it "the hard way," she says. She had heard about a “halting site”—walled areas on the outskirts of large towns that contain houses as well as spaces for caravan parking—and on her next trip to Ireland, she simply showed up.

She was met by barking dogs, one of which bit her. A young woman approached, speaking English with an accent so thick that Kaufmann had trouble comprehending. Undeterred, she decided to lay her cards on the table. "I was really honest. I told [her] I was coming from Germany , where we don't have our own traveling community, [that] I knew who they were and was interested in how [they live]," Kaufmann recalls.

The young woman "was totally surprised, but finally they invited me for a cup of tea. I was sitting in a caravan with her grandfather. I asked them if I could come back and stay with them." Kaufmann says they chortled, as if to say, Yeah, right.

When she next returned from Germany, it was with a camper van of her own, so that she could stay alongside the extended family clan that would become the focus of her project. "I knew it was a high risk," she says, “but I gave them some pictures I had taken in the caravan of the grandfather. And they said, 'Ok. Now you're here. We have the images. One cup of tea. Now go. We are busy.'"

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As a photographer, and especially as a woman, Kaufmann was something of a novelty given the strictly defined gender roles of the Traveller community—men tend to the horses and livestock, women to home and family. Girls marry young and only with the blessing of their parents. Men don’t typically speak to women in public.

She slowly gained their trust to the point that one of the family members—a young mother who took a particular shine to her and was perhaps even amused at her struggle to understand what they were saying—began teaching her Gammon, their unwritten language.

"She tried to teach me words to say if the guys are being rude," she says. "And then the father started telling me what I should say. [They] tried to make me feel more comfortable." Her knowledge of words selectively and seldom shared with outsiders demonstrated to other Travellers that one of their own had trusted her enough to share.

And in turn, understanding how they communicate with each other helped her get past the sense of feeling unwelcome and deepened her appreciation of their differences. "At first [the talk] sounds really rough," she says. "Then there was this point at which I realized it was their language. They don't really call anyone by name. It's 'the woman over there,' 'the man over there,' 'the child,'" she explains. "It's not personal, [but] at first it sounds very rude.”

Kaufmann made multiple visits to the family over the course of four years, eventually living with them. The men gradually accepted her and allowed her to photograph them hunting and trading horses at a fair. She was able to blend into the background and photograph them as an unobtrusive observer of their everyday lives—lives, she says, that are filled with a lot of idle time. As Ireland becomes less agrarian, the Travellers’ traditional work as horse traders, farm laborers, tinsmiths, and entertainers has become more scarce.

"The older generations can't read or write," Kaufmann says, "but they have their own intelligence. On the one hand life was so sad and boring because everything their lives were stemming from wasn't there anymore. On the other hand there was this freedom—they live their lives in their own way."

And then, she says, she found herself taking no photographs at all. "One of the boys who really didn't like to be photographed said, 'Do you know what's really strange with Birte now? She's here and she's not really photographing anymore.'"

And that's when she knew her project was done.

Birte Kaufmann's project on the Travellers is now available as a book . You may also see more of Birte Kaufmann's photographs on her website .

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• Published: 16 February 2017

Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers

• Edmund Gilbert 1 ,
• Shai Carmi 2 ,
• Sean Ennis 3 ,
• James F. Wilson 4 , 5   na1 &
• Gianpiero L. Cavalleri 1   na1  

Scientific Reports volume  7 , Article number:  42187 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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• Consanguinity
• Population genetics

The Irish Travellers are a population with a history of nomadism; consanguineous unions are common and they are socially isolated from the surrounding, ‘settled’ Irish people. Low-resolution genetic analysis suggests a common Irish origin between the settled and the Traveller populations. What is not known, however, is the extent of population structure within the Irish Travellers, the time of divergence from the general Irish population, or the extent of autozygosity. Using a sample of 50 Irish Travellers, 143 European Roma, 2232 settled Irish, 2039 British and 6255 European or world-wide individuals, we demonstrate evidence for population substructure within the Irish Traveller population, and estimate a time of divergence before the Great Famine of 1845–1852. We quantify the high levels of autozygosity, which are comparable to levels previously described in Orcadian 1 st /2 nd cousin offspring, and finally show the Irish Traveller population has no particular genetic links to the European Roma. The levels of autozygosity and distinct Irish origins have implications for disease mapping within Ireland, while the population structure and divergence inform on social history.

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Introduction.

The Irish Travellers are a community within Ireland, consisting of between 29,000–40,000 individuals, representing 0.6% of the Irish population as a whole 1 . They are traditionally nomadic, moving around rural Ireland and providing seasonal labour, as well as participating in horse-trading and tin-smithing 2 . Since the 1950’s the need for such traditional services has declined 3 , and the population has become increasingly urban, with the majority living within a fixed abode 1 . Despite this change in lifestyle, the Traveller community remains tight-knit but also socially isolated. The population has its own language 4 , known as Shelta, of which Cant and Gammon are dialects.

There is a lack of documentary evidence informing on the history of the Irish Traveller population 5 , 6 . As a result, their origins are a source of considerable debate, with no single origin explanation being widely accepted. It has been suggested that the Irish Travellers are a hybrid population between settled Irish and Romani gypsies, due to the similarities in their nomadic lifestyle. Other, “Irish Origin”, hypothesised sources of the Irish Travellers include; displacement from times of famine (such as between 1740–1741, or the Great Famine of 1845–1852), or displacement from the time of Cromwellian (1649–53) or the Anglo-Norman conquests (1169 to 1240). The Irish Traveller population may even pre-date these events, and represent Celtic or pre-Celtic isolates 4 . These models of ethnogenesis are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and the Irish Traveller population may have multiple sources of origin with a shared culture.

Consanguineous marriages are common within the Irish Traveller community 7 , 8 . Small, isolated and endogamous populations such as the Travellers are also more prone to the effects of genetic drift. The isolation and consanguinity have in turn led to an increased prevalence of recessive diseases 7 , 9 , 10 , with higher incidences of diseases such as transferase-deficient galactosaemia 11 , 12 , and Hurler syndrome 13 observed in the Traveller population relative to the settled Irish. However, the extent of autozygosity within the population has yet to be quantified; as a result it is unknown how homozygous the population is compared to other, better-studied, isolated European populations.

Previous work into the genetics of the Irish Traveller population has been conducted on datasets of relatively low genetic resolution. A recent study used blood groups to investigate the population history of the Irish Travellers 2 . Multivariate analysis of genotype data across 12 red blood cell loci in 119 Irish Travellers suggested that the population clustered closely with the settled Irish to the exclusion of the Roma. They did, however, appear divergent from the settled Irish. The authors attributed the source of such divergence to genetic drift - but were unable to determine whether any such drift was due to a founder effect, or sustained endogamy. Studies of Mendelian diseases suggest that pathogenic mutations in the settled Irish population are often the same as those observed in the Traveller population such is the case for tranferase-deficient galactosaemia (Q118R in the GALT gene 11 ) and Hurlers Syndrome (W402X, in the α-l-iduronidase gene 13 ).

Using dense, genome-wide, SNP datasets which provide much greater resolution than genetic systems studied in the Travellers to date, we set out to i) describe the genetic structure within the Traveller population, ii) the relationship between the Irish Travellers and other European populations, iii) estimate the time of divergence between the Travellers and settled Irish, and iv) the levels of autozygosity within the Irish Traveller population.

Population Structure of the Irish Travellers

In order to investigate the genetic relationship between the Irish Travellers and neighbouring populations we performed fineStructure analysis on Irish Travellers, settled Irish from a subset of the Trinity Student dataset 14 , and British from a subset of the POBI dataset 15 . A subset of the datasets were used in this analysis as we were primarily interested in the placing of the Irish Travellers within the context of Britain and Ireland, not the full structure found within Britain and Ireland. The results are presented in Fig. 1 in the form of a principal component analysis of fineStructure’s haplotype-based co-ancestry matrix (1A) and a dendrogram of the fineStructure clusters (1B).

( A ) The first and second components of principal component analysis of the haplotype-based co-ancestry matrix produced by fineStructure analysis. Individual clusters are indicated by colour and shape. Individual Irish Travellers are indicated with black bordered shapes, with cluster shown in Legend. ( B ) The full fineStructure tree with the highest posterior probability, with cluster size and name, and broad branches shown.

We observe that 31 of 34 of the Irish Travellers cluster on the Irish branch, indicating a strong affinity with an Irish population ancestral to the current day “Traveller” and “settled” populations ( Fig. 1B ). One “Irish Traveller” is found within the Borders 1 cluster, and two are found within the Borders 2 cluster. These three individuals report full, or partial, English gypsie ancestry, a distinct and separate travelling population in Britain. One individual is found within the Ireland 1 cluster, and two are found within the Ireland 2 cluster. Traveller individuals within the Ireland 2 cluster report recent settled ancestry, and we have no such genealogical data on the individual grouped within the Ireland 1 cluster. Given their mixed ancestry, these individuals were excluded from subsequent F st , f 3 , and divergence estimate work.

The remaining 28 Irish Travellers in the fineStructure analysis were arranged into four clusters. These clusters were grouped on two separate branches ( Fig. 1B ), with Traveller 1 (n = 7) and Traveller 2 (n = 5) on the same branch, and Traveller 3 (n = 5) and Traveller 4 (n = 11) on a separate branch. The branch with clusters Traveller 3 and 4 , forms an outgroup to the rest of the settled Irish and Irish Traveller clusters. These two branches of Irish Traveller clusters align closely with the split of Irish Travellers observed through PCA ( Fig. S1 ). All the individuals who separate on the first principal component (henceforth “PCA group B”) are found in clusters Traveller 3 and 4 ( Fig. S2A ), and nearly all the individuals who remain grouped with the settled Irish on principle component 1 (henceforth “PCA group A”) are found in clusters Traveller 1 and 2 ( Fig. S2A ). The remaining PCA group A individuals are those Irish Travellers found in the aforementioned settled Irish or British clusters. This pattern is also repeated in the PCA ( Fig. 1A ), where members of Traveller 1 and 2 cluster with the settled Irish, where Traveller 3 and 4 individuals cluster separately.

Having identified distinct genetic groups of Irish Travellers, we investigated the correlation with Irish Traveller sociolinguistic features, specifically Shelta dialect, and Rathkeale residence ( Fig. S2B ,C, respectively). The majority of the Gammon speakers were members of clusters Traveller 1 and 2. All of Traveller 1 consisted of Gammon speakers. The majority of clusters Traveller 3 and 4 consisted of Cant speakers, where all but one individual, for whom language identity is unknown, of Traveller 4 were Cant speakers. We found that only clusters Traveller 1 and 2 contain any Rathkeale Travellers, where 4 out of 5 individuals in Traveller 2 are Rathkeale Travellers.

We next investigated population structure using the maximum-likelihood estimation of individual ancestries using ADMIXTURE ( Figs 2 and S3). For this analysis we used a subset of the European Multiple Sclerosis dataset consisting of three northern European (Norway, Finland and Germany), two southern European (Italy and Spain), and a neighbouring population (France). We categorised the POBI British as English, Scottish, Welsh, and Orcadian. We further separated out the Irish Travellers to those in PCA group A and those in PCA group B.

Shown are the ancestry components per individual for the two groups of Irish Travellers (Group A and Group B), settled Irish, British, and European populations; modelling for 4 to 6 ancestral populations.

At k  = 4–6 ( Fig. 2 ), we observe the well-described north-south divide in the European populations ( k  = 4), as well as Finland and Orkney ( k  = 5) differentiating due to their respective populations’ bottleneck and isolation. Although at lower values of k the Irish Travellers generally resemble the settled Irish profile ( Fig. S3 ), at higher values of k two components are found to be enriched within the population. Each of these components is enriched in one of the two Irish Traveller PCA groups. Individuals with more than 20% of the “red” component when k = 5 belong to PCA group B and individuals with near 100% of “blue” component all belong to PCA group A ( Fig. 2 ). The fact that even at k  = 3 PCA group B gains its own ancestral component ( Fig. S3 ) suggests strong group-specific genetic drift.

In order to investigate a possible Roma Gyspie origin of the Irish Travellers, we compared the Irish Travellers, and settled Irish to a dataset of Roma populations found within Europe 16 using PCA and ADMIXTURE. The results broadly agree, with the Irish Travellers clustering with the settled Irish in the PCA plot, and resembling the settled Irish profile in ADMIXTURE analysis (see Fig. 3 ). There was no evidence for a recent ancestral component between the Irish Traveller and Roma populations. In addition, we formally tested evidence of admixture with f 3 statistics in the form of f 3 (Irish Traveller; Settled Irish, Roma). We found no evidence of admixture either when considering all the Roma as one population, or in each individual Roma population’s case (all f3 estimates were positive).

( A ) The first and second components from principal component analysis using gcta64. ( B ) The ancestry profiles using ADMIXTURE, assuming 2 to 4 ancestral populations.

Given the apparent structure between the Travellers and the settled Irish populations, we quantified genetic distance using F st and “outgroup” f 3 statistics. F st analysis reveals a considerable genetic distance between the settled Irish and the Irish Traveller population (F st  = 0.0034, Table S1 ) which is comparable to values observed between German and Italian, or Scotland and Spain.

In order to further investigate sub-structure within the Irish Travellers, we performed F st analysis on the Irish Traveller PCA (n = 2) and fineStructure (n = 4) groups, comparing them to the settled Irish (see also Table S1 ). The individuals belonging to cluster PCA group B are considerably more genetically distant from the settled Irish (F st  = 0.0086), relative to PCA group A (F st  = 0.0036). This could be explained by distinct founder events for PCA groups A and B, or that PCA group B has experienced greater genetic drift. The F st estimates of the Irish Traveller clusters are higher than the PCA groups. The estimates of clusters Traveller 1, 2 , and 3 range from 0.0052 to 0.0054. However, Traveller 4 shows the highest F st value (F st  = 0.0104), suggesting this cluster of individuals is responsible for the inflation of the PCA group B’s estimate. Generally, however, these results suggest that the general Irish Traveller population does not have a very recent source, i.e. within 5 generations or so. If we perform the same F st analysis on two random groups of settled Irish see observe a F st value < 1∙10 −5 .

To inform on whether lineage-specific drift is influencing the observed genetic distances between the Irish Travellers, the settled Irish and other neighbouring populations, we performed outgroup f 3 analysis, using HGDP Yorubans as the outgroup. Such analysis can inform on whether PCA group B and Traveller 4 do indeed represent an older Irish Traveller group, or a sub-group that has experienced more intense drift. When we compare PCA groups A/B to the settled Irish we see no significant difference between the two groups (see Table S2 , A:settled f 3  = 0.1694 (stderr = 0.0013), B:settled f 3  = 0.1698 (stdrr = 0.0013), A:B f 3  = 0.1700 (stderr = 0.0013)); with similar results for the fineStructure clusters ( Table S2 ). These results suggest that PCA group B has experienced more drift than PCA group A, inflating the F st statistic, which in turn has inflated the Irish Traveller population F st . We note however that f 3 statistics may not be sensitive enough to detect differences from settled Irish to Traveller PCA groups A and B should the difference between A and B be a relatively limited number of generations.

A key question in the history of the Travellers is the period of time for which the population has been isolated from the settled Irish. In order to address this we utilized two methods, one based on linkage disequilibrium patterns and F st (which we call T F ), and one based on Identity-by-Descent (IBD) patterns (which we call T IBD ).

The T F method estimates the divergence to be 40 (±2 std.dev – obtained via bootstrapping) generations. Assuming an average generation time of 30 years the T F method estimates that the divergence occurred 1200 (±60 – std.dev) years ago. The method also estimates the harmonic mean N e for the two populations over the last 2000 years. The Irish Traveller estimate (1395, std.dev = 16 – obtained via bootstrapping) is considerably lower than the settled Irish estimate (6162, std.err = 122 – obtained via bootstrapping). However, the isolation of the Irish Travellers will artificially increase the F st value and consequently inflate the T F divergence estimate. We therefore estimated the divergence time with a different IBD-based method; as such an approach can accommodate genetic drift.

We first identified IBD segment sharing within and between the Irish Travellers and our settled Irish subset. The Irish Travellers were found to share 35-fold more genetic material IBD (in cM per pair) than the settled population ( Fig. 4A ). Specifically, a pair of Travellers share, on average, 5.0 segments of mean length 12.9 cM, compared to 0.4 segments of mean length 4.9 cM for the settled population ( Fig. 4A ; segments with length >3 cM). Additionally we compared IBD sharing within and between the two PCA groups; A and B ( Fig. 4B ). We observe a greater amount of IBD segments shared within PCA group B than PCA group A. These sharing patterns are not due to familial sharing, as we have previously removed individuals with close kinship (see Supplementary Methods 1.3 ). Sharing between settled and Traveller Irish was of similar extent to that within the settled group ( Fig. 4A ), with no significant difference between the PCA groups A and B (p = 0.12, using permutations, for the difference in the number of segments shared with the settled) ( Fig. S4 ). We used the number and lengths of segments shared within settled, within Travellers, and between the groups to estimate the demographic history of those populations, and in particular, the split time between these two groups.

( A ) The number and lengths of shared segments within Settled Irish, within Traveller Irish, and between the groups. Left panel: The mean segment length; middle panel: the mean number of shared segments; right panel: the mean total sequence length (in cM) shared between each pair of individuals. ( B ) The number and lengths of shared segments within Traveller Group A, Traveller Group B, and between the groups. The format of the figure is as in ( A ).

Briefly, we used the method developed in Palamara et al . 17 (see also Zidan et al . 18 ). We assumed a demographic model for the two populations ( Fig. 5A ), in which an ancestral Irish population has entered a period of exponential expansion before the ancestors of the present day settled Irish and Irish Travellers split. After this split, the settled Irish continued the exponential expansion, whilst the Irish Travellers experienced an exponential population contraction. We then computed the expected proportion of the genome found in shared segments of different length intervals using the theory of ref. 17 , and found the parameters of the demographic model that best fitted the data (see Supplementary Data 1.3 , Fig. 5B , and Table 1 ).

( A ) The model used for demographic inference. The two populations were one ancestral population, with size N e , T G generations ago. At this point the ancestral population started to grow exponentially until T S generations ago, where the ancestral Traveller and settled populations split from each other, with N S,T being the initial starting population size of the Traveller population. The settled population experienced continued exponential growth until the present, with a population size of N C,S . The Traveller population experienced a period of exponential contraction until the present, with a population of N C,T . ( B ) The proportion of the genome in IBD segments vs the IBD segments length. The total genome size and the sum of segment lengths were computed in cM. Left: sharing between pairs of settled Irish; middle: sharing between pairs of one settled and one Traveller individuals; right: sharing between pairs of Traveller Irish. Each data point is located at the harmonic mean of the boundaries of the length interval it represents.

The results of the model suggest the Irish Travellers and settled Irish separation occurred 12 generations ago (95% CI: 8–14). The results also support opposite trends in the effective population sizes (N e ) of the settled and Traveller Irish since that split: while the settled population has expanded rapidly, the Irish Travellers have contracted (see Table 1 ). When restricting to the 12 members of PCA group A, the split time was estimated to be 15 generations ago (95% CI: 13–18) ( Table 2 ). When restricting to the 16 members of PCA group B, the split time was 10 generations ago (95% CI: 3–14). We stress these results should be seen as the best fitting projection of the true history into a simplified demographic model, in particular given the limited sample sizes.

Runs of Homozygosity

Consanguinity is common within the Irish Traveller population, and in this context we quantified the levels of homozygosity compared to settled Irish and world-wide populations 19 . We calculated the average total extent of homozygosity of each population using four categories of minimum length of Runs of Homozygosity (ROH) (1/5/10/16 Mb). Elevated ROH levels between 1 and 5 Mb are indicative of a historical smaller population size. Elevated ROH levels over 10 Mb, on the other hand, are reflective of more recent consanguinity in an individuals’ ancestry 10 . We also include average figures for the European Roma in the Irish Traveller – European analysis. Full European Roma ROH profiles are shown in Figure S5 .

As expected, the Irish Travellers present a significantly higher amount of homozygosity compared to the other outbred populations and to the European isolates the French Basque and Sardinian, which is sustained through to the larger cutoff categories of 10–16 Mb (see Fig. 6 ). Our results for the other world-wide populations agree with previous estimates 10 , with the Native American Karitiana showing the most autozygosity, and the Papuan population showing an excess of short ROHs. Two other consanguineous populations, the Balochi and Druze show slightly more homozygosity than the Irish Travellers, and the European Roma are most similar to the Travellers for both shorter and longer ROH.

Shown, across four minimum lengths of runs of homozygosity (ROH), are the average lengths of ROH in each population. The average ROH burdens for the European Roma are the mean of means across the 13 Roma populations studied. These values are from a separate analysis, and collated with the wider European ROH values for reasons of SNP coverage between the different datasets.

These results indicate a higher level of background relatedness in the Irish Traveller population history. The high levels of ROH larger than 10 Mb in length reflect recent parental relatedness within the population. This is supported by the average F ROH5 in the Irish Travellers (F ROH5  = 0.015), which is slightly lower but comparable to the F ROH5 score found among Orcadian offspring of 1 st /2 nd cousins (F ROH5  = 0.017) 20 .

Finally, in order to explore the potential of the Irish Traveller population for studying rare, functional variation for disease purposes, we tested minor allele frequency (MAF) differences between the settled Irish and the Irish Travellers from a common dataset of 560,256 common SNPs for 36 Traveller, and 2232 settled Irish individuals. We observed 24,670 SNPs with a MAF between 0.02–0.05 in the settled Irish population. We found that 3.29% of these SNPs had a MAF >0.1 in the Irish Traveller population. We tested the significance of this observation by calculating the same percentage, but taking a random 36 settled Irish sample instead of 36 Irish Travellers. We repeated this 1000 times and found no samples (p =< 0.001) with a greater percentage than 3.29 (mean = 1.3, std.dev = 0.11). This has additional implications for disease mapping within Ireland, as a proportion of the functional variants in the settled Irish population will be observed at a higher frequency in the Traveller population.

We have, using high-density genome-wide SNP data on 42 Irish Traveller individuals, investigated the genetic relationship between the Travellers and neighbouring populations and another nomadic European population, the Roma. For the first time we have estimated a time of divergence of the Irish Travellers from the general Irish population, and have also quantified the extent of autozygosity within the population.

We report that the Irish Traveller population has an ancestral Irish origin, closely resembling the wider Irish population in the context of other European cohorts. This is consistent with previous observations made using a limited number of classical markers 2 , 4 . In both our fineStructure and ADMIXTURE analyses, the Traveller population clusters predominantly with the settled Irish. Our fineStructure tree qualitatively agrees with the topology presented by Leslie et al . 21 , although there are some differences. For example, in the tree presented here, the Irish and individuals from south-west Scotland are grouped on one branch, with the rest of Scotland and England placed on a separate branch. fineStructure tree building is sensitive to the sample size, and due to the larger proportion of Irish genomes in our analysis, compared to Leslie et al .’s analysis (300 versus 44), it is not surprising that the Irish branch is placed differently.

We observe substructure within the Irish Traveller population, identifying (via fineStructure) four genetic clusters occupied only by Irish Travellers ( Fig. 1B ). These clusters align with the broad two way split in the Irish Traveller population we observe via allele frequency based PCA ( Fig. S1 ). In addition, our fineStructure clusters reflect sociolinguistic affinities of the population, membership of the Rathkeale group ( Traveller 2), and speakers of the Cant ( Traveller 4 ) or Gammon ( Traveller1 ) dialects of Shelta ( Fig. S2 ). Our results, therefore, suggest that these groups represent genuine structure within the Irish Traveller population, rather than having by chance sampled broad family groups.

Several Irish Traveller individuals in the fineStructure analysis show an affinity either with British or settled Irish, demonstrating some genetic heterogeneity within the Irish Traveller population. This heterogeneity can be explained by recent settled ancestry or ancestry with other Travelling groups within Britain and Ireland. However, the existence of sole Irish Traveller genetic clusters suggest that there is some sub-structure within the population, and a larger follow up study is warranted to elucidate the extent of this structure, and the representative nature of the observed clusters.

It appears that the Traveller population has experienced lineage-specific drift, as demonstrated by the discordant F st and f 3 estimates between the Travellers and the settled Irish. F st estimates of Traveller to Settled Irish genetic distance are comparable to that we observed between the Ireland and Spain ( Table S1 ). However, when we estimate using f 3 statistics (which is less sensitive to lineage-specific drift) the genetic distance, is reduced, and comparable to that observed between Irish and Scots. The theory of lineage-specific drift is also supported by the IBD analysis, which demonstrates very high levels of haplotype sharing within the Traveller population. Indeed, much of the overall genetic differentiation of the Travellers from the settled Irish is driven by the high F st distance between the Irish Traveller PCA group B (specifically the Traveller 4 cluster), and the settled Irish. This suggests that some subgroups within the Irish Travellers may have experienced greater genetic drift than others.

The dating of the origin of the Irish Travellers is of considerable interest, but this is distinct from the origins of each population. We have estimated the point of divergence between the Traveller and the settled Irish population using two different methods. Our LD-based (T F ) method estimates a split 40 (±2 std.err) generations ago, or 1200 (±60 – std.err) years ago (assuming a generation time of 30 years). Our IBD-based method (T IBD ) estimates 12 (8–14) generations, or 360 (240–420) years ago. However both estimates suggest that the Irish Travellers split from the settled population at least 200 years ago. The Irish Great Famine (1845–1852) is often proposed as a/the source of the Irish Traveller population, but results presented here are not supportive of this particular interpretation. The T IBD method suggested differences between the PCA groups; whilst PCA group A seems to have split relatively early and remained relatively large, PCA group B seems to have split off more recently and quickly decline in size ( Table 2 ). This might explain the higher degrees of genetic differentiation we see in PCA group B in our F st and f 3 analyses.

An important limitation of our dating analysis is that both the T IBD and T F approaches assume a single origin source, but there may have been multiple founding events contributing to the population present today. Both methods are further limited in that they do not model for subsequent gene flow in to the population. We would also consider the T F date to be inflated, given the lineage-specific drift we and others have illustrated in the Traveller population, and its corresponding impact on F st calculation. In the case of the T IBD method, the sample size of the Irish Traveller cohort was too small to infer more complex demographic models (e.g. post-split gene flow or multiple epochs of growth/contraction for each group), due to the risk of over-fitting. A larger dataset is required to explore the possibility of dating distinct events for the Traveller clusters our analysis has resolved.

One of the hypothesised sources of the Irish Travellers is that they are a hybrid population between the settled Irish and the Roma. The results of our ADMIXTURE analysis would not support such a hypothesis, with none of the self-identified Irish Travellers showing ancestry components specific to the Roma populations. We did however detect one individual showing a significant proportion of a Roma-specific ancestral component. This individual self-reported Gypsie ancestry, and did not cluster with the clusters of sole Irish Traveller membership.

We have presented the first population-based assessment of autozygosity within the Irish Traveller population. Compared to other cosmopolitan populations, we observe within the Irish Travellers an excess of ROH and IBD segments. The ROH profile of the Irish Travellers is comparable to other consanguineous populations such as the Balochi of Pakistan and Druze of the Levant. However, of the populations we tested for ROH, the Irish Travellers were most similar to the European Roma, who are also an endogamous nomadic community. This, and the F ROH5 statistic for the Irish Travellers, agrees with previous observations of endogamy within the Irish Travellers 7 , 8 . Our homozygosity results would account for the well-documented higher prevalence of recessive disease within the Irish Traveller community 11 , 13 , 22 . The levels of homozygosity have clear importance in the medical genetics of the Irish Traveller population and together with the drift of rarer variants to higher frequencies in the Irish Travellers may greatly aid in the identification of rarer variants contributing to the risk of common disease within Ireland 23 , both for the settled and the travelling populations.

In summary, we confirm an ancestral Irish origin for the Irish Traveller population, and describe for the first time the genetics of the population using high-density genome-wide genotype data. We observe substructure within the population, a high degree of homozygosity and evidence of the “jackpot effect” of otherwise rare variants drifting to higher frequencies, both of which are of interest to disease mapping and complex trait genetics in Ireland. Finally we provide important insight to the demographic history of the Irish Traveller population, where we have estimated a divergence time for the Irish Travellers from the settled Irish to be at least 8 generations ago.

Materials and Methods

Study populations.

We assembled five distinct datasets; the Irish Travellers (n = 50), the Irish Trinity Student Controls 14 (n = 2232), the People of the British Isles dataset 15 (n = 2039), a dataset of individuals with European ancestry 24 (n = 5964), individuals with Roma ancestry 16 (n = 143), and a dataset of world-wide populations 19 (n = 931). For more details of each dataset, see Supplementary Data 1.1 .

The Irish Traveller cohort and data presented here were analysed within the guidelines and regulations put forward by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Research Committee, and approved by the same Committee (reference number REC 1069). A waive of informed consent was granted by this Committee under an amendment of the same ethics reference number.

Quality Control of Genotype Data

Each of the five cohorts was individually processed through a number of quality control steps using the software PLINK 1.9 25 , 26 . Only autosomal SNPs were included in the analysis. Individuals or SNPs that had >5% missing genotypes, SNPs with a minor allele frequency (MAF) <2%, and SNPs failing the HWE at significance of <0.001 were discounted from further analysis. Identity-by-Descent (IBD) was calculated between all pairs of individuals in each of the five datasets using the—genome function in plink, and one individual from any pairs that showed 3 rd degree kinship or closer (a pihat score ≥0.09) was removed from further analysis. Amongst the Irish Traveller cohort eight cryptic pairings closer than second-degree cousins were found, leaving 42 individuals for further analysis.

Individuals included from the European ancestry dataset 24 were genotyped as part of a study of multiple sclerosis (MS), which included cases. As the HLA region contains loci strongly associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) 24 , for any analyses that included the European individuals from this MS study we omitted SNPs from a 15 Mb region around the HLA gene region, starting at 22,915,594 to 37,945,593. In order to restrict the MS cohort to individuals of European ancestry, we conducted principal component analysis (PCA) with gcta64 (v1.24.1) 27 and outliers from each of the MS populations were also removed. This left the final 5964 individuals included in the MS European Cohort.

Population Structure

FineStructure 28 analysis was carried out on a combined dataset of Irish Travellers, Trinity Student Irish, and POBI British. As fineStructure is more sensitive to relatedness, instead of the previously described IBD threshold we removed one from each pair with a pihat score >0.06. Additionally we removed SNPs that were either A/T or G/C. This left a combined dataset of 34 Irish Travellers, 300 randomly chosen Irish from the Trinity Student dataset, and 828 British from the POBI dataset. The POBI samples were selected as follows; 500 individuals were chosen from England, and all 131 from Wales, 101 from Scotland, and 96 from Orkney. In order for the English individuals to be as representative as possible of English clusters identified previously 21 , the 500 consisted of; 200 randomly chosen from Central/South England, 50 randomly chosen from each of Devon and Cornwall, and 200 randomly chosen from the north of England. This final combined dataset had a total coverage of 431,048 common SNPs. Further details of the fineStructure analysis pipeline and its parameters are described in Supplementary Data 1.2 .

In order to compare to other population structure visualisation methods we also performed allele frequency-based PCA using the software gcta64 (v1.24.1) 27 . Detailed methods are provided in Supplementary Data 3 . This was applied to the same dataset as the fineStructure analysis, with the exception that we first pruned the dataset with regards to LD using plink 1.9 25 , 26 with the—indep-pairwise command, using a window of 1000 SNPs moving every 50 SNPs, with an r 2 threshold of 0.2. We also removed common SNPs that were either A/T or G/C, leaving 75,214 common SNPs.

Maximum likelihood estimation of individual ancestries was carried out using ADMIXTURE version 1.23 29 and a dataset that had been pruned with respect to LD, as recommended by the authors 29 . This was achieved using plink 1.9 25 , 26 with the—indep-pairwise command, using a window of 1000 SNPs moving every 50 SNPs, with an r 2 threshold of 0.2. For this analysis we used a combined dataset of 42 Irish Travellers, 40 randomly selected Irish individuals from the Trinity Irish cohort, 160 individuals from the POBI dataset (40 randomly chosen English, Welsh, Orcadian, and Scottish individuals), and 40 random individuals from each of the following populations within the MS European dataset; France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Finland, and Spain. The combined dataset consisted of 83,759 SNPs (after the removal of A/T or G/C variants), and 476 individuals.

ADMIXTURE analysis was carried out on k  = 2–7 populations, with 50 iterations of each k value. The iteration with the highest log-likelihood and lowest cross validation score was used for further analysis.

Inter-population fixation indexes between the populations were studied using the Weir and Cockerham method 30 and the combined dataset used in ADMIXTURE analysis. The dataset was pruned with respect to LD using the same parameters as described above, leaving 83,759 common SNPs.

Due to the suspected lineage-specific drift in the Irish Traveller population history, we additionally calculated genetic distance using “outgroup” f 3 -statistics 31 , an extension of the f-statistics framework 32 . f 3 is proportional to the shared genetic drift between two test populations and an outgroup population, and should therefore be less sensitive to the Irish Travellers lineage-specific drift than the F st statistic. We performed this analysis on the same combined dataset used in F st analysis, with the additional inclusion of 21 Yorubans from the HGDP dataset in order to act as an outgroup to the pair-wise comparisons. The combined dataset consisted of 245,594 common SNPs (after the removal of A/T or G/C variants). The outgroup f 3 statistic was calculated using the software within the admixtools package 32 using default settings.

In order to estimate a time of divergence between the Irish Travellers and the settled Irish we utilised two methods. The first, the T F method, is based on a method first described by McEvoy et al . 33 and uses linkage disequilibrium patterns between markers in discrete bins of recombination distances, and genetic distance measured by F st in order to estimate a divergence time. The second, the T IBD method, uses the sharing of Identical by Descent (IBD) segments and demographic modelling using this sharing data to estimate a time of divergence and is based on the methodology previously described in Palamara et al . 17 and applied in Zidan et al . 18 . For more details of both methods, see Supplementary Data 1.3 .

Runs of Homozygosity Analysis

ROH analysis was carried out on a merged dataset of all individuals within the Irish Traveller, Trinity Student, and POBI cohorts, and a subset of the populations found within the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) dataset. The HGDP populations were chosen to be i) representative of world-wide diversity of autozygosity, and ii) to compare the levels of autozygosity of the Irish Travellers to known endogamous populations such as the Balochi and Karitiana. The combined dataset had an overlap of 193,508 common markers.

With the exception of one parameter (the gap between consecutive SNPs, see below), we followed McQuillan et al .’s methodology 20 for the ROH analysis; the window was defined as 1000 kb, moving every 50 SNPs, with 1 heterozygous position allowed and 5 missing positions allowed within the window. The run of homozygosity call criteria were defined as; 1/5/10/16 Mb minimum in length, 100 SNPs minimum within the window, the minimum marker density greater than 50 Kb/SNP. Due to the reduced SNP coverage in this dataset compared to previous analyses 10 , 20 the largest gap between consecutive SNPs before ending a run of homozygosity call was changed to 500 Kb. We calculated F ROH5 as it had previously been shown to strongly correlate with the inbreeding coefficient F PED 20 . F ROH5 was estimated for the 17 populations, as per the equation below.

where S ROH5 is the total length of ROH found in an individual where runs are >5 Mb and L auto is the total length of the autosomal genome (called as 2,673,768 kb here). The F ROH5 was averaged across the individuals to find the population mean of F ROH5 .

Relationship to European Roma

We performed several analyses in order to investigate the relationship between Irish Travellers and European Roma. Firstly, we assembled a merged dataset that included the full Irish Traveller, Trinity Student, and European Roma datasets. We additionally removed any variants that were A/T or G/C. For subsequent PCA and ADMIXTURE analysis the combined Roma dataset was pruned for LD, using a window of 1000 SNPs, moving every 50 SNPs with a r 2 inclusion threshold of 0.2 in PLINK, leaving 66,099 common SNPs.

Secondly, PCA was performed using gcta64 v1.24.1 27 , creating a genetic relationship matrix, and then generating the first 10 principal components. Thirdly we applied ADMIXTURE on a reduced combined dataset that included all Irish Traveller and European Roma individuals, but only 40 of the Trinity Student Irish. ADMIXTURE was used with the same parameters as above, modelling for 2–4 ancestral populations. Finally, we compared the levels of homozygosity between the Irish Travellers, Trinity Student Irish, and European Roma - using the full combined Roma dataset, with 148,362 common SNPs and using the parameters described above.

Thirdly, we formally tested evidence for admixture using admixture f 3 statistics 32 in the form f 3 (Traveller; Settled, Roma) using the full Trinity Irish dataset, a reduced European Roma dataset excluding the Welsh Roma (due to their outlier status in the rest of the dataset 16 ), and a reduced dataset of Irish Travellers belonging to Irish Traveller clusters identified in fineStructure analysis (see Results). This combined dataset consisted of 148,914 SNPs.

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How to cite this article: Gilbert, E. et al . Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers. Sci. Rep. 7 , 42187; doi: 10.1038/srep42187 (2017).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the members of the Irish Traveller population who participated in this study. The work was part funded by a Career Development Award (13/CDA/2223) from Science Foundation Ireland. We would also like to thank, Eoghan O’Halloran for help with data formatting, the Irish Center for High-End Computing (ICHEC) for the provision of computing facilities and support, Dan Lawson for advice and help with fineStructure, Michael McDonagh for helpful comments and insights into linguistic groups with the Irish Travellers, and Sinead Ní Shuinéar for inquiries on groups within the Irish Travellers. SC thanks a private donation from the Barouh and Channah Berkovits Foundation. We thank Liam McGrath and Scratch Films for their support in developing this project. We thank the reviewers for their helpful comments. This study makes use of data 24 generated by the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available from www.wtccc.org.uk . Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 76113, 085475 and 090355.

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James F. Wilson and Gianpiero L. Cavalleri: These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, 2, Ireland

Edmund Gilbert & Gianpiero L. Cavalleri

Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, Scotland

• James F. Wilson

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E.G., S.C., J.F.W., and G.L.C., wrote the main manuscript, E.G. ran the analysis, with exception of TIBD, which was run by S.C. S.E. contributed to supervision of E.G. J.F.W. and G.L.C. designed the study. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Nomadism and Equality: The Irish Traveller and Gypsy Women

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When writing the story of the Irish Traveller and Gypsy women is important to specify that in the Irish Republic, the Irish Travellers, New Age Travellers, Irish Romani Gypsies, and Roma from Central and Eastern Europe minorities present broad internal subdivisions. Each of these groups attain different cultural traits and behavioral patterns, although it is true that they have more things in common – and this is one of the reasons why they are frequently and erroneously confused – rather than characteristics which distinguish them. The overlapping of experiences of Roma and Traveller minorities, then, would make impossible at times to treat them as separate cases of study. The Travellers are Ireland’s native ethnic minority. The New Age Travellers, on the other hand, do not form a distinct ethnic group according to the Irish law, and the creation of this nomadic group has as a backdrop the free festivals, therefore their...

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Armie, M., Membrive, V. (2020). Nomadism and Equality: The Irish Traveller and Gypsy Women. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_131-1

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The long road towards acceptance for Irish Travellers

The Irish Traveller community is fighting for official recognition of its ethnic identity and for a way of life.

Avila Park, Dublin, Ireland –   In a wooden shed in his back garden, James Collins sits on a low stool hammering out the final touches on a billy can. At 68, he is one of only two remaining traveller tinsmiths in Ireland.

Above the clutter of well-worn tools and scrap sheet metal hang a dozen or so other cans. Nowadays, he says, there’s precious little demand for his trade, and he largely continues it as a hobby, occasionally selling some of his work at vintage craft fairs.

Since the introduction of plastic homeware in the 1960s and 1970s, tinsmithing – traditionally dominated by the historically nomadic community known as Travellers – has effectively died out. Even the block tin, James originally used, is no longer available.

“It’s more difficult to work with,” he says, holding up a gleaming aluminium can. “You can’t make what you want to make out of it because you have to use solder and that won’t take solder.”

READ MORE: Ballinasloe Horse Fair – An ancient Irish tradition

James was raised on the road in the Irish midlands, a traditional upbringing unknown to most Travellers today. “I was bred, born and reared on the road,” he says, “but the young lads today wasn’t. They all grew up in houses and went to school and all this craic. I never got any education, never went to school in my life.”

Until his late 20s, when he settled in Avila Park, a housing estate for Travellers on the outskirts of Dublin, the Irish capital, James plied his trade for farmers, smithing and repairing buckets. “It never goes out of your mind; you’re always thinking, thinking the whole time about the road,” he says.

In comparison, younger generations have little interest in traditional crafts or the travelling lifestyle – James’ children and grandchildren don’t know how to harness a horse, for example. And anti-trespass legislation introduced in the early 2000s, which was used to disperse encampments by the side of roads or on council-owned land, made a nomadic existence increasingly difficult.

Yet, even as the distinct traditions of Irish Travellers seem to fade into the past, the battle for official recognition of their identity continues.

The search for recognition

Unlike the United Nations and the United Kingdom, Ireland does not recognise Travellers as a separate ethnicity from the non-Traveller community. For decades, human rights organisations and Traveller advocacy groups have been seeking this recognition, but to little avail.

However, on January 26, a parliamentary committee established to investigate the issue stated unequivocally that “Travellers are, de facto, a separate ethnic group”.

“This is not a gift to be bestowed upon them, but a fact the state ought to formally acknowledge,” it further said.

The committee report urged the Taoiseach, Ireland’s prime minister, or the minister for justice to give a statement to the Dail, the Irish parliament, acknowledging this at the earliest opportunity.

This development was welcomed by members of the Travelling community, although some remain cautious in their optimism. It would not be the first time an Irish government has reneged on such commitments – a 2014 parliamentary report made the same recommendation, which was never acted upon.

A history of deprivation and discrimination

An examination of the almost 30,000 Travellers in the Republic of Ireland shows a staggering level of deprivation completely at odds with the non-Traveller community. Another 4,000 to 5,000 Travellers live in Northern Ireland, in a similar situation.

Around half of Travellers have no secondary education and only 1 percent have attended university, according to Pavee Point, a group fighting for the rights of Travellers.

WATCH: Irish travellers facing discrimination

Some 84 percent of Travellers are unemployed, while suicide rates are almost seven times higher than among settled people. A 2010 study found that life expectancy was 15 years lower among men and 11 years lower among women when compared with their settled counterparts.

Discrimination against Travellers remains endemic at social and institutional levels. Being denied entry to businesses is a common occurrence and many try to hide their background when applying for jobs, fearing that potential employers will not hire them.

“Symbolically it would have a profound impact on our collective sense of identity, self-esteem and confidence as a people,” says Martin Collins, the co-director of Pavee Point, on the recognition of Traveller ethnicity.

“Some travellers have internalised [racism] and end up believing that they are of no value, they are of no worth … So that’s the impact. That’s the outcome of both racism and your identity being denied.”

A culture denied

It was a 1963 government report, the Commission on Itinerancy, that has set the tone for the state’s attitude towards Travellers ever since, says Sinn Fein Senator Padraig MacLochlainn, the first person from a Traveller background to be elected to the Irish parliament.

The Committee on Itinerancy ‘s terms of reference defined Travellers as a “problem”, whose social ills were “inherent in their way of life,” and outlined the goal of “promot[ing] their absorption into the general community”.

No Travellers were on the committee, nor were they consulted for its report.

“Our people and our state denied their history and decided that they were criminals and they needed to be immersed in with the rest of us,” says MacLochlainn.

This refusal to acknowledge the community’s rich cultural history – notably their own language, Cant, and significant contributions to Irish traditional music – persists today.

Traveller culture is frequently portrayed in the media as separate and distinct, MacLochlainn says, but almost always in negative terms, in exploitation TV shows   such as My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and exposes on Traveller criminality.

“You clearly accept them as a distinct group – why are you making these programmes if you don’t? If they’re a distinct group, could you do it now in positive terms?

“When it comes to negative characterisations, the media, the establishment … in Ireland are more than happy for them to be characterised in negative terms,” the senator says.

Behind James’ shed in Avila Park, traditional and modern Traveller accommodation sit side by side. A wooden barreltop caravan, washed green with blue and red embellishments, sits between two mobile home units, where his younger relatives stay.

Only one has both electricity and running water, which were installed by the family. Power is provided from the house by a yellow cable, wound loosely around plastic drainpipes and holes in its pebbledash exterior.

An early morning fire in a nearby prefabricated unit just a few weeks before offered a bleak reminder of the danger these makeshift electrical fixtures pose. A neighbour raised the alarm and the young couple inside escaped before their home was reduced to a charred husk.

Children burned to death

This near disaster has reminded some people of a fire in the south Dublin suburb of Carrickmines more than a year ago, which continues to cast a shadow over relations between the Traveller and the settled communities.

In the early hours of October 10, 2015, a fire ripped through a halting site killing 10 people, including five children, from two families – the Lynch and Gilbert family and the Connors. The youngest victim was five months old. It was one of the deadliest fires in the history of the Republic of Ireland.

Social workers had raised concerns about the site’s substandard prefabricated units to authorities in the months before the fire, but no action was taken. The blaze and its aftermath would, for many, become an example of the pervasive discrimination Travellers face in Ireland today.

Three days after the fire, some locals blockaded land marked for temporary accommodation for the surviving members of the Connors family, preventing construction vehicles from entering. Though the obstruction was condemned by then Environment Minister Alan Kelly and several Traveller groups, the protesters were successful.

OPINION: Catholic Ireland’s saints and sinners

On October 21, one day before the last victims were buried, the county council announced that the Connors family would instead be resettled on a reclaimed dump on council land in a nearby suburb. At the time of writing, the family remain in that location.

Alongside many expressions of grief on social media after the fire were comments highlighting the discrimination towards travellers in Irish society.

On one popular news site, a comment simply wishing that the victims rest in peace received hundreds of thumbs down votes from other readers. “Hundreds of Irish people gave a thumbs down to an expression of sympathy for children who were burned to death,” says MacLochlainn. “That’s terrifying; that’s absolutely terrifying.”

In response to the tragedy, local authorities across the country conducted fire safety audits at Traveller accommodation sites. “All we got was a few fire alarms, a few fire blankets and some carbon monoxide alarms,” says Collins, of Pavee Point.

“That’s like re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic. That’s totally inadequate. These sites need to be completely redeveloped [and] refurbished, because the sites are just inherently dangerous. Getting a few fire alarms and a few hoses will not rectify the situation.”

For Collins, the long overdue recognition of Traveller ethnicity is an important milestone, but as the Carrickmines example shows, a commitment to materially improving the lives of Travellers is also necessary if they are to be truly equal in their own country.

• Researching Irish Traveller Ancestors

Tracing Irish Traveller family history can be extra challenging due to the lack of written records. However, there are clues to be found that can point to Irish Traveller ancestry, and a number of resources to help people discover more.

​ This resource is a work in progress; please feel free to add recommendations and suggestions to this message board thread .

An Lucht Siúil  ( Traveling Folk  lit. the Walking People) or Travellers can refer to a variety of people who lived life on the road. Irish Travellers aka Mincéir aka Pavee are a distinct Irish ethnic group with their own customs, language and traditions. Many live in the UK for all or part of the year. They are a recognised ethnic minority group.

Irish Traveller culture and ancestry

Irish Travellers are a separate cultural group that started migrating to Britain in the early 19th century and can be traced back to 12th century Ireland. 

Population structure & History of Irish travellers

Genetic research found that Irish Travellers are of Irish origin and have significant genetic makeup compared to their settled community. An estimated 40,000 Travellers (less than 1% of the population) are living in Ireland today. Although sometimes called gypsies, they have no genetic relation to  Romani . 

Gene study reveals Irish Travellers' ancestry

The Celtic Travellers DNA project is for descendants and members and of  Irish Travellers , Highland Scottish Travellers, Lowland Scottish Travellers, Fairground Travellers and other  Non-Romani  travelling families. However, Roma or mixed Traveller heritage are also welcome to join.

Celtic Travellers DNA Project

Searching Census & Vital Records for clues

Clues that can suggest Traveller ancestry include:

Occupations: tinker, tinman, tinsmith, whitesmith, dealer, pedlar, horse dealer, basket maker,  peg maker , knife grinder/ sharpener, hawker , musician , and sometimes labourer.

Place of Birth : All the children in the family being born in different places is also a big clue. 

Residence : Unusual residences such as "tent on common"

Irish Gypsies and Irish Travellers are distinct ethnic groups often referred to in parish registers as 'Pavees' or 'Minceir'. 

Irish Traveller Genealogy Resources

Here is a list of useful resources to help you trace Irish Traveller or Mincéir ancestors:

TravellerHeritage.ie

https://www.paveepoint.ie/ PaveePoint.ie

The Romany & Traveller Family History Society

Travellers Times

RomaHeritage.co.uk  |  GypsyWagons.co.uk  |  Gypsy Genealogy

Special Collections:  Liverpool  |  Leeds  |  Reading  |  Surrey  |  Sussex 

IrelandXO Message Board

The IrelandXO message board can be a great resource for finding out more about Irish Traveller family histories and connecting with other descendants. Click on the links to read some interesting message board threads:

Need Information on "Tinkers", "Travelers"

McDonough/McDonagh family from Killedan

O'Brien/O'Leary

Doran in Galway

IrelandXO Traveller Timelines

• Traveling Folk in the 1930s

Irish Traveller Buildings & Places

• St Nicholas of Myra, Francis St, DUBLIN
• Long Mile Road WALKINSTOWN

Irish Traveller Photo Collections

UCD Digital Collection

Common Irish Traveller Family Names

Berry, Brown, Cash , Carmody, Carthy, Casey, Cassidy, Cawley , Clark, Collins, Connors , Conroy, Corcoran, Cunningham, Delaney, Doherty , Donoghue/ O’Donoghue, Donovan , Doran, Dunne , Flynn, Furey , Gallagher, Green, Hanafin/ Hannifin , Hand, Hanley, Hanrahan, Harper, Hennessey, Joyce , Keating, Keenan, Kerrigan, Kiely, Lawrence, Lee, Lynch, Maguire, Malone, Maloney, Maughan , Mongan, Moorehouse McCarthy , MacDonald, McDonagh , MacDonnell, MacAleer, McCann, McDonnell, McGinley, McInerney, MacLoughlin, McRea, Nevin, Nolan, O’Donnell, O’Reilly / Reilly, Power, Purcell, Price, Quinn, Stokes , Sweeney, Ward , Wall, Windrum.

​Famous Irish Traveller Ancestors 

Sean Connery's ancestor: James Connery born circa 1840

Margaret Barry born 1917

The Duchás Folklore Collection

Between 1937 and 1939, primary school pupils across the Republic of Ireland interviewed the elderly in their neighborhood to collect and record local stories and folklore from the 19th century. "The Schools Collection" as it became known is held by the Dúchas Folklore Collection in UCD and is and has been digitized online at duchas.ie. One of the topics schoolchildren were asked to write about were "Travelling Folk" or An Lucht Siúil. Click here  to read a selection of what "settled" children wrote about travelers in the late 1930s.

Are you descended from Irish Travellers? Add their story to the IrelandXO website and connect with other descendants living all around the world. 

Additional Advice from our IrelandXO Community

My great-grandmother was from Galway Travellers, it took me years to put together the best family history I could manage.  If you are not sure the name you are looking for is a Traveling People name you might go to the Pavee Point site and search other sites under Traveller History, names, etc.   There are different groups of people who seem to come under the category of "Traveller", Irish, English,  UK, Scotland & Wales),  Roma, Romania & South Eastern European, Carnival & Show Travelers, and I'm sure others. Families often marry within particular other families, I saw an online list of which families marry into which other name families and first names are repeated thru generations like the Irish naming pattern used to be, these lists are usually individual observations and quite old.  In addition to the name on UK census records you might find the address listed as "in Tents",  "in Lanes", etc.  The occupation might be listed, such as it was for my great grandfather, as Tinman , as the Traveling people used to do pot mending and such things as they moved from place to place.  Location can be difficult because of moving from place to place,  often within a particular area, such as only Munster,  or Scotland to Ireland, I spent years finding a family member who had gone to Wales.  Then of course someone you are searching may have gotten Transportation to Australia or be in prison in England, sometimes waiting several years there before transportation. This might be a bit of luck for you as records for prison and transportation are online.   Of course you can always search the parish registers in a particular area you are interested in, as Traveling People are likely to be Roman Catholic and very likely to have their children baptized which would be recorded along with other church sacramental records, marriage etc.  Also consider that many people with Irish Travelling people heritage were settled and maybe had not been going from place to place for years, if not generations.   As far as DNA sites I recommend My Heritage , this site has more Irish, UK, English than any other I have seen.  If your DNA is on another site you probably can transfer it to My Heritage for free, its very worthwhile.  Make good use of your higher number DNA matches by checking the shared matches for repeat names. 

Elaine Walsh

** originally published in 2022

We hope you have found the information we have shared helpful. While you are here, we have a small favour to ask. Ireland Reaching Out is a non-profit organisation that relies on public funding and donations to ensure a completely free family history advisory service to anyone of Irish heritage who needs help connecting with their Irish place of origin. If you would like to support our mission, please click on the donate button and make a contribution. Any amount, big or small, is appreciated and makes a difference. 

Gypsy Roma and Traveller History and Culture

Gypsy Roma and Traveller people belong to minority ethnic groups that have contributed to British society for centuries. Their distinctive way of life and traditions manifest themselves in nomadism, the centrality of their extended family, unique languages and entrepreneurial economy. It is reported that there are around 300,000 Travellers in the UK and they are one of the most disadvantaged groups. The real population may be different as some members of these communities do not participate in the census .

The Traveller Movement works predominantly with ethnic Gypsy, Roma, and Irish Traveller Communities.

Irish Travellers and Romany Gypsies

Irish Travellers

Traditionally, Irish Travellers are a nomadic group of people from Ireland but have a separate identity, heritage and culture to the community in general. An Irish Traveller presence can be traced back to 12th century Ireland, with migrations to Great Britain in the early 19th century. The Irish Traveller community is categorised as an ethnic minority group under the Race Relations Act, 1976 (amended 2000); the Human Rights Act 1998; and the Equality Act 2010. Some Travellers of Irish heritage identify as Pavee or Minceir, which are words from the Irish Traveller language, Shelta.

Romany Gypsies

Romany Gypsies have been in Britain since at least 1515 after migrating from continental Europe during the Roma migration from India. The term Gypsy comes from “Egyptian” which is what the settled population perceived them to be because of their dark complexion. In reality, linguistic analysis of the Romani language proves that Romany Gypsies, like the European Roma, originally came from Northern India, probably around the 12th century. French Manush Gypsies have a similar origin and culture to Romany Gypsies.

There are other groups of Travellers who may travel through Britain, such as Scottish Travellers, Welsh Travellers and English Travellers, many of whom can trace a nomadic heritage back for many generations and who may have married into or outside of more traditional Irish Traveller and Romany Gypsy families. There were already indigenous nomadic people in Britain when the Romany Gypsies first arrived hundreds of years ago and the different cultures/ethnicities have to some extent merged.

Number of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain

This year, the 2021 Census included a “Roma” category for the first time, following in the footsteps of the 2011 Census which included a “Gypsy and Irish Traveller” category. The 2021 Census statistics have not yet been released but the 2011 Census put the combined Gypsy and Irish Traveller population in England and Wales as 57,680. This was recognised by many as an underestimate for various reasons. For instance, it varies greatly with data collected locally such as from the Gypsy Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessments, which total the Traveller population at just over 120,000, according to our research.

Other academic estimates of the combined Gypsy, Irish Traveller and other Traveller population range from 120,000 to 300,000. Ethnic monitoring data of the Gypsy Traveller population is rarely collected by key service providers in health, employment, planning and criminal justice.

Where Gypsies and Travellers Live

Although most Gypsies and Travellers see travelling as part of their identity, they can choose to live in different ways including:

• moving regularly around the country from site to site and being ‘on the road’
• living permanently in caravans or mobile homes, on sites provided by the council, or on private sites
• living in settled accommodation during winter or school term-time, travelling during the summer months
• living in ‘bricks and mortar’ housing, settled together, but still retaining a strong commitment to Gypsy/Traveller culture and traditions

Currently, their nomadic life is being threatened by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, that is currently being deliberated in Parliament, To find out more or get involved with opposing this bill, please visit here

Although Travellers speak English in most situations, they often speak to each other in their own language; for Irish Travellers this is called Cant or Gammon* and Gypsies speak Romani, which is the only indigenous language in the UK with Indic roots.

*Sometimes referred to as “Shelta” by linguists and academics

New Travellers and Show People

There are also Traveller groups which are known as ‘cultural’ rather than ‘ethnic’ Travellers. These include ‘new’ Travellers and Showmen. Most of the information on this page relates to ethnic Travellers but ‘Showmen’ do share many cultural traits with ethnic Travellers.

Show People are a cultural minority that have owned and operated funfairs and circuses for many generations and their identity is connected to their family businesses. They operate rides and attractions that can be seen throughout the summer months at funfairs. They generally have winter quarters where the family settles to repair the machinery that they operate and prepare for the next travelling season. Most Show People belong to the Showmen’s Guild which is an organisation that provides economic and social regulation and advocacy for Show People. The Showman’s Guild works with both central and local governments to protect the economic interests of its members.

The term New Travellers refers to people sometimes referred to as “New Age Travellers”. They are generally people who have taken to life ‘on the road’ in their own lifetime, though some New Traveller families claim to have been on the road for three consecutive generations. The New Traveller culture grew out of the hippie and free-festival movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Barge Travellers are similar to New Travellers but live on the UK’s 2,200 miles of canals. They form a distinct group in the canal network and many are former ‘new’ Travellers who moved onto the canals after changes to the law made the free festival circuit and a life on the road almost untenable. Many New Travellers have also settled into private sites or rural communes although a few groups are still travelling.

If you are a new age Traveller and require support please contact Friends, Families, and Travellers (FFT) .

Differences and Values

Differences Between Gypsies, Travellers, and Roma

Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are often categorised together under the “Roma” definition in Europe and under the acronym “GRT” in Britain. These communities and other nomadic groups, such as Scottish and English Travellers, Show People and New Travellers, share a number of characteristics in common: the importance of family and/or community networks; the nomadic way of life, a tendency toward self-employment, experience of disadvantage and having the poorest health outcomes in the United Kingdom.

The Roma communities also originated from India from around the 10th/ 12th centuries and have historically faced persecution, including slavery and genocide. They are still marginalised and ghettoised in many Eastern European countries (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania etc) where they are often the largest and most visible ethnic minority group, sometimes making up 10% of the total population. However, ‘Roma’ is a political term and a self-identification of many Roma activists. In reality, European Roma populations are made up of various subgroups, some with their own form of Romani, who often identify as that group rather than by the all-encompassing Roma identity.

Travellers and Roma each have very different customs, religion, language and heritage. For instance, Gypsies are said to have originated in India and the Romani language (also spoken by Roma) is considered to consist of at least seven varieties, each a language in their own right.

Values and Culture of GRT Communities

Family, extended family bonds and networks are very important to the Gypsy and Traveller way of life, as is a distinct identity from the settled ‘Gorja’ or ‘country’ population. Family anniversaries, births, weddings and funerals are usually marked by extended family or community gatherings with strong religious ceremonial content. Gypsies and Travellers generally marry young and respect their older generation. Contrary to frequent media depiction, Traveller communities value cleanliness and tidiness.

Many Irish Travellers are practising Catholics, while some Gypsies and Travellers are part of a growing Christian Evangelical movement.

Gypsy and Traveller culture has always adapted to survive and continues to do so today. Rapid economic change, recession and the gradual dismantling of the ‘grey’ economy have driven many Gypsy and Traveller families into hard times. The criminalisation of ‘travelling’ and the dire shortage of authorised private or council sites have added to this. Some Travellers describe the effect that this is having as “a crisis in the community” . A study in Ireland put the suicide rate of Irish Traveller men as 3-5 times higher than the wider population. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the same phenomenon is happening amongst Traveller communities in the UK.

Gypsies and Travellers are also adapting to new ways, as they have always done. Most of the younger generation and some of the older generation use social network platforms to stay in touch and there is a growing recognition that reading and writing are useful tools to have. Many Gypsies and Travellers utilise their often remarkable array of skills and trades as part of the formal economy. Some Gypsies and Travellers, many supported by their families, are entering further and higher education and becoming solicitors, teachers, accountants, journalists and other professionals.

There have always been successful Gypsy and Traveller businesses, some of which are household names within their sectors, although the ethnicity of the owners is often concealed. Gypsies and Travellers have always been represented in the fields of sport and entertainment.

How Gypsies and Travellers Are Disadvantaged

The Traveller, Gypsy, and Roma communities are widely considered to be among the most socially excluded communities in the UK. They have a much lower life expectancy than the general population, with Traveller men and women living 10-12 years less than the wider population.

Travellers have higher rates of infant mortality, maternal death and stillbirths than the general population. They experience racist sentiment in the media and elsewhere, which would be socially unacceptable if directed at any other minority community. Ofsted consider young Travellers to be one of the groups most at risk of low attainment in education.

Government services rarely include Traveller views in the planning and delivery of services.

In recent years, there has been increased political networking between the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller activists and campaign organisations.

Watch this video by Travellers Times made for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month 2021:

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Irish Roma: a literature review

Aoife o’sullivan.

1 Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Limerick (UHL), Limerick, Ireland

Darragh Rooney

Clodagh s. o’gorman.

2 Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Limerick (UL), Limerick, Ireland

Anne Marie Murphy

Associated data.

Not applicable.

It is estimated that the Roma are the largest ethnic minority population in Europe (HSE in Roma Intercultural Guide, 2020 ). There is a dearth of information in the Irish medical literature on the Roma in Ireland. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the Roma in Ireland, to identify Roma-specific culture, family structure, paediatric illness, and health equality within the context of the Irish population. To do this, a review was completed of the English language literature on Roma available from 2010 to 2021 using web of science databases. Relevant clinicians and organisations were contacted to compile data on the Irish Roma to inform appropriate action in Roma child health. Up until 2021, the national census in Ireland did not include Roma as a category in ethnicity (HSE in Roma Intercultural Guide, 2020 ). As such, it is difficult to get an accurate number of the population in Ireland. Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre in 2009 estimated a population of approximately 5000 (National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy in Justice.ie, 2017 ). The majority of the Roma in Ireland are Romanian (National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy in Justice.ie, 2017 ). There is limited understanding of their culture in Ireland (National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy in Justice.ie, 2017 ). Often overlooked, small indigenous groups or nomadic races have unmet medical needs (National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy in Justice.ie, 2017 ). Across Europe, they have a lower life expectancy and higher burden of illness due to lower socioeconomic status, discrimination, and poor access to health services (National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy in Justice.ie, 2017 ). Cultural competence is necessary to provide effective healthcare.

Introduction

The European Union (EU) uses the term “Roma” to describe several minority groups with diverse cultural backgrounds including Roma, Gypsies, Sinti, and Travellers [ 2 , 3 ]. For this review, the term “Roma” is specific to the Roma population and “traveller” refers to Irish travellers.

According to the HSE intercultural guide, it is estimated that the Roma population is the largest ethnic minority group in Europe [ 1 ]. They began migrating to Europe from Northeast India from 1000 A.D. [ 1 ]. Approximately six million live throughout the EU [ 1 ]. Statistically, the largest Roma communities live in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovak Republic [ 1 ]. The majority of Roma in Ireland are from Romania and Slovak Republic. In general, Roma in Ireland are EU citizens, and many are Irish citizens [ 2 ]. The title “Roma” is an umbrella term due to sub-groups within the Roma population with differences in cultural tradition and language [ 2 ]. The Roma Chakra is the official symbol adopted by the Roma in 1971 [ 1 ]. It encompasses Roma Indian heritage and represents the vardo/wagon which was the traditional home of the Roma for over 100 years [ 1 ].

The Roma Chakra. HSE, Roma Intercultural Guide (2020) [ 1 ]

In 2014, the World Health Organisation estimated that Roma has one of the largest populations younger than 16 years and a very low percentage older than 65 years [ 2 , 3 ]. This demonstrates their high birth rate and premature death rate [ 2 , 3 ]. Roma women tend to marry young, often less than 20 years [ 2 ]. Traditionally, their culture was patriarchal with male dominance [ 2 ]. Roma women are now more progressive, and some participate in education and paid work [ 2 ].

In Ireland, evidence suggests most of the Roma population identify as Pentecostal [ 1 ]. But there are also Orthodox and Roman Catholic. Traditional Roma female dress includes a colourful blouse, long skirt, scarf, and jewellery [ 1 ]. However, many Roma no longer identify by their dress [ 1 , 2 ]. The importance of the Roma extended family and the Romani language are unique to Roma culture [ 1 , 2 ]. The family unit is core to Roma culture; in some cases, there may be three generations of Roma living under one roof [ 1 , 2 ]. This is important for hospital visitation, medical appointments, and accurate booking of interpreters, including use of family members and the HSE emergency multilingual aid in acute scenarios [ 1 ]. Romani is the official language of the Roma with different dialects of the language across sub-groups and regions [ 2 ]. Traditionally, age hierarchy existed amongst Roma, with older family members responsible for important decisions including healthcare [ 1 , 2 ]. It is important for health service providers to be accustomed to the advantages and disadvantages of this custom; there is often a collective family response to serious illness with dedicated support networks [ 1 , 2 ].

Irish Roma and children of Roma

Prior to the development of the EU, Roma emigrated to Ireland as short-term workers mostly for farm labour, others sought asylum [ 2 ]. It is estimated from the 2018 National Roma Needs Assessment (NRNA) and Pavee Point that there are approximately 5000 Roma living in Ireland [ 2 , 3 ]. This estimate does not interpret to which Roma sub-groups these some 5000 Roma belong [ 2 ]. Traditionally described as a nomadic group, the Irish Roma today are generally in semi-fixed/ fixed accommodation [ 3 ], although statistically there is a high rate of homelessness and overcrowded accommodation [ 3 – 5 ]. In the EU, approximately 80% of Roma are at risk of poverty, in comparison to 17% for non-Roma [ 2 ]. They maintain their distinct identity through dress, close extended family, health, and social cultural beliefs [ 3 ]. This unique identity can highlight the differences in culture with the majority population and contribute to marginalisation [ 4 – 6 ]. Evidence suggests poor engagement in Irish society attributable to marginalisation, discrimination, poor access to health and social services, and lack of a political voice [ 4 ].

In 2014, the Ombudsman for Children published the “Logan Report” in relation to the inappropriate removal of two Roma children from their families under Sect. 12 of Childcare Act 1991 [ 6 ]. This included child A from Athlone and child T from Tallaght [ 6 ]. Both children were reported as potential abductions by members of the public to the Gardai based on their fair complexions in comparison to that of their families [ 6 ]. Both children in question suffered from oculocutaneous albinism [ 6 ]. It is important to note that at this time, there was an international media storm surrounding the case “Maria” in Greece, a young girl who was abducted by a Roma family [ 6 ].

The “Logan” report looked at the circumstances surrounding this error and the relationship between public services and the Roma community [ 6 ]. All recommendations from this report were accepted by the state [ 6 ]. Recommendations included an apology from the Minister for Justice and Equality to the families involved, provision of healthcare support physical and psychological for both children, improved access and availability of Roma cultural mediators and interpreters, accurate reporting on Roma by media outlets in relation to social problems and crime, and an assessment of the needs of the Irish Roma community. This assessment of need was published as the NRNA in 2018 [ 6 ].

The NRNA included Roma researchers at all stages [ 5 ]. It was both quantitative with questionnaires and qualitative with focus groups and interviews with Roma across Ireland [ 5 ]. Males and females took part with most participants aged 18–34 years [ 5 ]. All participants over 18 were born outside Ireland, but 63.3% of minors were born in Ireland [ 5 ]. This demonstrated that there are 2nd- and 3rd-generation Roma living in Ireland, indicating Roma have been part of Irish society for some time [ 5 ]. But only approximately 5% of adult Irish Roma had Irish citizenship [ 5 ]. Findings suggested that 20% of Roma had no social welfare support including child benefit, no housing support including homeless support, and no employment support [ 5 ]. Many of these cases were due to failure to supply proof of habitual residence including a PPS (Personal Public Services Number) [ 5 ]. For a PPS, proof of identity e.g. valid passport, proof of address, and a valid reason for requiring a PPS is required [ 5 ]. Others feared engaging with the state due to previous negative experience in their country of origin [ 5 ].

Many Roma are unable to meet the criteria for habitual residence which considers main centre of interest, length and continuity of presence, length and reason for absence, and future intention [ 5 ]. If they do not satisfy the habitual residence conditions, they and their family are not entitled to social protection including income, healthcare, accommodation, and disability support [ 7 ]. The NRNA found poverty amongst Roma to be a core issue, preventing Roma from participating fully in Irish life [ 5 ]. The NRNA was completed and published by Pavee Point [ 5 ]. Pavee Point is a voluntary non-governmental organisation (NGO) that acts as an advocate for Roma but also traveller rights in Ireland [ 5 ]. It has had a Roma project since 2000; this was set-up to assist Roma in accessing services, participating in Irish society, and preventing discrimination [ 5 ].

A smaller Roma study was completed in 2016 locally in Balbriggan by Musicantia, a Roma support centre set-up in 2013 [ 7 ]. The study was completed over a year, which hired Roma researchers, and the method was a questionnaire [ 7 ]. Thirty Roma participated similarly to the NRNA, majority are female, and the average age of participants was approximately 35 years [ 7 ]. The average number of children per family was four, three times the national average in 2016 [ 7 ]. Thirteen percent of respondents were married and 77% had children, suggesting a high number of single parents [ 7 ]. As for NRNA, the most common religion was Pentecostal, and the most common first language was Romani [ 5 , 7 ]. Most participants had sought asylum in Ireland prior to 2007 when Romania joined the EU; all were resident in Ireland for greater than five years and 63% for greater than ten years [ 7 ]. In relation to health, 97% had a medical card, but 77% found language a barrier to accessing healthcare, of note 46% of respondents had no English or beginners level [ 7 ]. 64% had initially found it difficult to acquire housing, 97% were in private rented accommodation, and none were homeowners [ 7 ]. There was a low level of education, with average time in school of five years amongst participants [ 7 ]. However, most of their children were enrolled in school in Balbriggan and had integrated well [ 7 ]. 90% were unemployed and in receipt of social welfare, although respondents highlighted the difficulties in meeting the habitual residence condition as per NRNA [ 5 , 7 ]. The two main recommendations from this study were in relation to racism and low English literacy levels [ 7 ]. 79% state they have been the target of racism or discrimination; reports included services such as healthcare, schools, workspaces, and dealings with the Gardai [ 7 ]. The recommendations sought provision of English language classes for Roma communities, and expansion of anti-racism initiatives, e.g. “yellow flag programme in schools” [ 7 ].

The EU commission describes lack of trust between Roma and mainstream society [ 8 ]. The EU Framework for National Traveller and Roma Integration Strategies to 2020 was to promote social and economic inclusion [ 2 ]. As part of this in Ireland, the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) 2017–2021 was developed [ 2 , 5 , 8 ]. It focuses on health, housing, education, and employment [ 2 , 5 ].

In relation to health, Roma should have improved access and participation within Irish healthcare [ 2 ]. This includes consideration given to needs of Roma with mental health and substance abuse issues, representation on local and national health structures, improved treatment of chronic conditions, improved access for maternal health, establish ethnic identifier to monitor use of services, provision of medical cards to Roma with no income, culturally appropriate service delivery, and secure funding specific to Roma health [ 2 ]. For housing provision, it should be culturally appropriate and monitored [ 2 ]. Outcomes in relation to education should be equal to population majority [ 2 ]. This includes facilitating access to the free pre-school scheme under early childcare and education up to age 3 years, early intervention to promote retention to leaving certificate level, support parental involvement, 3rd level peer mentorship programme, transparency, and fairness for admission to all levels of education and educator inclusion training and guidelines [ 2 ]. For employment, the strategy was to increase opportunities for Roma including apprenticeship and training schemes [ 2 ].

Cultural competence

Cultural differences can be associated with racial connotations such as thieves, criminals, and beggars [ 8 ]. Discrimination makes it difficult to have a voice politically and socially [ 8 ]. The EU commission suggests that discrimination starts at an early age [ 8 ]. Across member states, Roma children often attend segregated schools or classes, 58% in Slovakia and 45% in Hungary [ 8 ]. Approximately 54% of Roma suffer discrimination when seeking paid work [ 8 ].

The Roma have experienced a long history of exclusion, including slavery and the holocaust [ 5 ]. In Bulgaria in the late 1950s, Roma children were forbidden to speak Romani in school and had to adopt a Slavic name [ 5 ]. In Czechoslovakia, in the 1970s/1980s, Roma women were sterilized to reduce reproduction rate to prevent “social risk” posed by Roma [ 5 ].

During the expansion of the EU from 2004, there was an increase in migration from Eastern to Western Europe [ 5 ]. The Irish media portrayed a negative image of “fear” surrounding migration of Roma, including lack of contribution to society and abuse of social welfare [ 5 ]. Statistics suggest that the reason for emigration of Roma was like that of non-Roma, employment, better housing, and better education [ 5 ]. Poor data collection and absence of a Roma category under ethnicity in the Irish census makes it difficult to determine the true socioeconomic status of Irish Roma [ 1 , 5 ].

In 2014, the Logan report addressed issues relating to cultural competence within the public sector [ 6 ]. Addressing this report, in the same year, an e-learning course for frontline public servants was developed, “delivering equality in public services” [ 9 ]. Other improvements following this report included training for ethnic liaison officers within an Garda Siochana, intercultural guidelines for primary schools, Education (admissions to school) Bill 2014 for fair admission to school, and the Roma health project Tallaght [ 9 ].

In 2015, a report by the United Nations described Europe as collectively discriminatory towards Roma [ 5 ]. It noted that media outlets focussed only on social problems and crime when reporting on Roma [ 5 ]. In 2014, the Irish times reported that approximately four Roma families in Waterford were forced to leave their homes due to racist abuse [ 5 ]. In the same year, the Irish immigrant support centre rolled out a pilot anti-racism training programme to 20 Gardai in Cork [ 10 ]. It involved promoting awareness of the impact racism has on minority populations and how to prevent discriminatory ethnic profiling [ 10 ].

The NRNA recommended monitoring of socioeconomic status of Irish Roma using an NGO that works with Roma on the ground for accurate data [ 5 ]. It recommended improving access to support for Roma with birth registration, citizenship, and social welfare applications [ 5 ]. In this report, Roma described discrimination relating to traditional dress, skin colour, or just looking “non-Irish” [ 5 ]. Roma women, those who are illiterate, non-English speakers were considered most vulnerable to anti-Roma abuse [ 10 ]. The NRNA highlighted the importance of interpreters for improved service access [ 5 ]. In relation to housing, some landlords openly stated they did not accept Roma tenants [ 5 ]. A total of 78.9% of Roma who responded to a NRNA questionnaire reported discrimination when seeking work and often hid their identity [ 5 ]. Racism was also reported in relation to health services, public spaces including restaurants, and interactions with Gardai [ 5 ].

Traveller separateness

Like other minority groups, Irish travellers and Roma have their own language, traditions, and customs [ 11 ]. They also have similarities including nomadism and large close family networks [ 12 ]. This includes shared experiences of racism and discrimination based on their ethnicity [ 12 ].

Unlike the Roma, Irish travellers have been a minority group in Ireland for centuries [ 12 ]. According to the 2016 census, the traveller population was greater than six times that of the Roma population at approximately 0.7% of the total population, 30,987 [ 13 ]. It is important to note that the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study in 2010 estimated the traveller population at greater than 36,000 [ 13 ]. It is likely that both Roma and traveller populations are underestimated due to lack of accurate data [ 13 ]. For the NTRIS, most data in terms of population statistics for the traveller and Roma communities came from the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study in 2010 and the NRNA 2018 [ 2 , 5 , 9 , 14 ]. Following recommendations from NTRIS, Roma will be included in the ethnicity section of census 2021 [ 2 , 13 ].

In terms of Irish legislation, the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977, the Employment Equality Acts, and the Equal Status Acts refer specifically to travellers as a protected group [ 13 ]. Unlike Roma, travellers are referred to by name within Irish legislation in relation to protections of ethnic minorities under EU directives [ 9 ]. Both Roma and travellers are named under the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) developed in 2015 [ 9 ]. SICAP through engagement with the community and local organisations such as Pavee Point aims to target those most vulnerable to social exclusion and poor access to education and training [ 9 ].

The Irish traveller community has several government and NGO working on their behalf including Pavee Point, local traveller inter-agency groups, e.g., Donegal traveller project, and community traveller health units [ 9 ]. The national traveller accommodation consultative committee was established initially in 1999 [ 9 ]. It includes construction works, house acquisition, and provision of temporary accommodation [ 9 ]. No such committee exists for the Roma population [ 9 ]. Similarly in relation to healthcare, the national traveller health advisory forum includes HSE staff, traveller representatives, and traveller health units [ 9 ]. Traveller health units run projects such as asthma education for travellers [ 9 ]. This was developed due to high rates of asthma in the national All Ireland Traveller Health Study [ 9 , 14 ]. In 2010, asthma accounted for 71.9% of reported chronic illness in traveller children [ 14 ]. It is noteworthy that 83% of travellers surveyed in the 2010 health study sought and received healthcare advice from traveller-specific projects and organisations [ 14 ]. It may be hypothesized from this data that the Roma population may benefit from similar Roma-specific health initiatives. Both travellers and Roma have the same rights as any other EU citizen living in Ireland, but as a Roma, there are few public-led projects targeted specifically to them and their diverse cultural needs [ 2 , 5 , 9 ]. One example of a health-directed project specific to Roma is the Tallaght Roma Integration Project (TRIP) [ 15 ].

Health inequality

Studies suggest that Roma people may mistrust health services due to discrimination, cost, cultural barriers, language, and difficulty accessing care [ 3 , 9 , 16 ]. In the UK, it has been found that Roma has a lower life expectancy and poorer health outcomes than the general population [ 17 , 18 ]. The 2014 Roma health report by the European Commission found Roma life expectancy to be 10–15 years less than the general population [ 16 ]. Roma in the UK and in Europe are associated with higher maternal and infant mortality, higher rates of paediatric emergency department attendances, accidental injury, and infections [ 3 , 17 ]. They also have lower rates of paediatric immunisation and general practice visits [ 17 ]. Roma infants are more prone to malnutrition, diabetes, and poor oral hygiene [ 16 , 18 ]. There is a higher prevalence of inherited rare disorders amongst Roma children due to practice of consanguineous marriage in some clans. There is a need for culturally appropriate genetic counselling [ 16 ]. There is also less uptake of preventative health services by Roma adults [ 16 , 18 ]. They have higher rates of chronic illness including coronary artery disease, infectious disease, mental illness, and substance abuse [ 15 , 16 ].

Mistrust of health services may lead to lower utilisation and poorer health outcomes, particularly if they have experienced segregation and racism in their country of origin [ 3 , 10 , 15 , 16 , 18 ]. Roma community engagement in the planning and delivery of health services may improve trust and utilisation [ 3 , 15 ]. Access to healthcare is particularly difficult for Roma whose status in Ireland is unresolved [ 15 ]. In 2009, the TRIP was developed as a community primary care model targeting Roma [ 15 ]. It is run by the SafetyNet primary care network in Tallaght [ 15 ]. The service offers acute and chronic illness management, ante-natal care, and paediatric services [ 15 ]. Following a community consultation process with Roma in Tallaght through use of inter-agency groups and Roma cultural mediators, one of its main goals is to support Roma in accessing healthcare services [ 15 ]. Inability to access health services was directly related to an inability to pay healthcare costs and/ or ineligibility for social welfare [ 15 ].

Tallaght has a relatively large migrant population with approximately 25% of the population in west Tallaght from a migrant background including the Roma community [ 15 ]. The TRIP estimates the Roma population in Tallaght to be between 600 and 1000, but it is important to note that the ethnic identity of service users is not formally documented [ 15 ]. In 2012, the TRIP initiated the pilot Roma primary care initiative under SafetyNet [ 15 ]. This involved a mobile GP clinic set-up in the carpark of Tallaght hospital providing free primary care and support services including interpreters for Roma [ 15 ]. Due to high demand, this service has become established as part of Tallaght primary care centre, and no longer takes place in the car park [ 15 ]. In 2014, 892 Roma had availed of this service, with 70% female service users [ 15 ]. The high rate of female service use prompted development of women’s health initiatives including reproductive health and contraception [ 15 ]. In relation to children’s health, 159 children less than 5 years old attended in 2014 [ 15 ]. As a result, a vaccination programme has been developed as part of the service [ 15 ]. This is important as across Europe low uptake of childhood immunisation is a concern amongst Roma [ 16 ]. It is suggested that this is due to vaccination myths, low levels of education, illiteracy, and fear of public service use [ 16 ].

Another key issue for Roma was access to maternal health services [ 15 , 16 ]. The NRNA found that for 24% of pregnant Roma women, their first interaction with maternal health services was when giving birth [ 5 ]. There is limited data on the health of Romani women in Europe [ 16 ]. The highest birth rate has been found in the most socially disadvantaged Roma families [ 16 ]. Rates of teenage pregnancy are higher amongst Roma than non-Roma in Europe [ 16 ]. According to the 2014 Roma health report, the average age was 17.27 years in the 2011 survey [ 16 ]. This is important from an Irish context as under Sect. 5 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Act 2007 the age of consent for sexual relations is 17 years [ 19 ]. The EU recognises the high birth rates amongst Roma women [ 16 ]. This may be due to cultural beliefs; traditionally, Roma men valued women by the number of children they gave birth to [ 16 ]. A nullipara female is considered shameful for her and her extended family [ 16 ]. Traditionally, birth must take place outside the home, as it is seen as impure [ 16 ]. Teenage pregnancy and lack of utilisation of prenatal obstetric services puts Roma women and children at increased risk of complications. The 2014 Roma health report found that in Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, there are higher rates of abortion, infant mortality, low birth weights, and premature births [ 16 ]. Additionally, Roma women less frequently visit a Gynaecologist than the general population in Europe and have lower uptake of cervical screening programmes [ 16 ].

The Decade of Roma Inclusion (DRI) between 2005 and 2015 brought several European governments together to tackle discrimination against the Roma, including health inequality [ 2 , 8 ]. Discussions involved members of the Roma community and focused on the integration of Roma into European society [ 2 , 8 ]. It was felt by members of the DRI that there were four main priorities to alleviate health inequality [ 2 , 8 ]: culturally sensitive health policies, greater sensitivity given to the values and needs of the Roma community, involvement of Roma as key stakeholders in policy making, and legitimization of the Roma population [ 2 , 8 ].

The NTRIS has set out recommendations for health equality including (a) extended health and basic social security coverage and services; (b) awareness campaigns for health checks, preventative health measures, pre- and post-natal screening, family planning, and immunization; (c) engagement of Roma in community health programmes; and (d) improved living conditions [ 8 ]. It placed emphasis on the well-being of women and children [ 8 ]. The persistent lack of accurate data on Roma health must first be addressed to inform healthcare service development [ 5 , 15 ].

The NTRIS was the first national policy to explicitly include Roma [ 2 , 20 ]. In 2019, the second review was completed by the EU and documented both the success and failures of its implementation [ 20 ]. Positive developments include continued success of the TRIP, formal acknowledgement of traveller ethnicity in 2017, inclusion of migrant groups in the Healthy Ireland Framework, and targeted Roma initiatives as part of the National Intercultural Health Strategy [ 20 ]. Other initiatives including Tusla, the child and family agency, are developing an initiative for retention of Roma and traveller children within the education system [ 20 ]. The EU also highlights the gap between planning and the implementation of Roma inclusion strategies [ 20 ]. Reasons for this are multifactorial, slow implementation of the NTRIS that has been linked to lack of and poor use of EU funds, poor participation by the Roma community, and negligible impact of Roma policies by the media [ 20 ]. An inequality gap between Roma and the majority population in Ireland is relevant for all 4 primary domains of the NTRIS: health, housing, education, and employment [ 20 ].

Review of the TRIP in 2016 demonstrated the advantages of actively engaging with the Roma for the provision of services, but also to provide Roma with a voice to communicate barriers to and issues in relation to service access and provision [ 15 ]. The Healthy Ireland Framework 2013–2025 includes migrant groups as part of an inclusive whole population approach to healthcare delivery, although does not refer to the Roma community specifically [ 15 ]. It has 4 primary objectives: increase the proportion of people healthy at all stages of life, reduce health inequalities, protect the population from threats to health and well-being, and create an environment where all individuals and sectors of society participate in achieving a healthy Ireland [ 14 ]. In addition to this, the HSE intercultural guide provides a framework for healthcare workers in provision of culturally appropriate care and will be continued as part of the second HSE National Intercultural Health Strategy (NIHS) 2018–2023 [ 1 , 20 ].

Unlike the Healthy Ireland Framework, the NIHS refers directly to the health needs of the Roma population and other migrant groups [ 20 ]. The NIHS defines migrant as an umbrella term including Roma, refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants [ 20 ]. The primary goals of this most recent strategy include enhanced accessibility of services, address healthcare issues experienced by those from ethnic minority groups, provision of high quality culturally responsive services, build evidence base, and strengthen intercultural health [ 20 ]. Success of the first NIHS 2007–2012 included the HSE intercultural guide for staff, the emergency multilingual aid kit, peer health model for refugees and asylum seekers, and the Roma men’s training, development, and health literacy programme [ 20 ]. A major weakness of the first NIHS was poor data collection on ethnicity and failed implementation of ethnic equality monitoring limiting the analysis of projects on the ground [ 20 ].

Housing is particularly impacted due to the nationwide homeless and housing crisis [ 21 ]. The NTRIS described six actions in relation to housing for travellers, none referring to the Roma community [ 21 ]. According to the NRNA, 93% of anti-Roma discrimination occurred in relation to housing access [ 5 , 21 ]. Inadequate housing and poor health status are linked with lower levels of education and unemployment [ 21 ]. According to census 2016, the level of unemployment for travellers is six times the majority population; there is no data available for Roma [ 2 , 21 ]. As discussed for Roma, access to social welfare and employment support services is limited by the European Directive 2004/38 on freedom of movement and the habitual residence condition [ 21 ].

In the most recent Pandemic of Sars-CoV-2, Roma have featured as high-risk due to existing health and housing issues with increased vulnerability to the virus [ 22 , 23 ]. Difficulties with self-isolation, physical distancing, and inadequate hygiene facilities in substandard accommodation put Roma at increased risk of contracting the virus [ 22 ]. Statistics from the European Commission states that up to 30% of Roma in Europe have no running water in their accommodation [ 24 ]. The higher rates of infectious disease, non-communicable chronic disease, and poor access to health services place Roma in a high-risk category for severe disease, hospitalisation, and death [ 5 , 21 – 23 ]. Exclusion from social welfare support experienced by Roma was also exacerbated during covid [ 22 ]. A 2020 report by the department of Children and Youth Affairs stated that 18% of Roma households had greater than five children [ 22 ]. Educational disadvantage was exacerbated during the crisis due to low parental education level versus majority population, poverty, and lack of access to laptops and Internet for online teaching [ 22 ]. For some Roma children within the EU, closure of school meant loss of free daily meals [ 22 ]. Due to this, additional EU funding was set aside for disadvantaged children including Roma to access resources for online learning [ 22 ].

In March 2020, the Department of Health Ireland stated that both traveller and Roma communities would be treated as priority groups for diagnostic testing [ 22 ]. However, there were discrepancies between data collected from Pavee Point and the state [ 22 ]. Pavee Point documented sixty-one cases of covid amongst Roma with six deaths by March 2020; however, the HSE reported twenty-two cases of the virus with four deaths in the same period [ 22 ]. The data from Pavee Point suggests a 10% mortality rate in the Roma population which far exceeds that of the majority population in Ireland [ 22 ].

Across Europe, Roma are considered a high-risk priority group for Sars-CoV-2 [ 22 , 23 ]. In Slovakia where 10% of the population is Roma, covid positivity rates have been up to 60%, and 22% of Roma who died from covid were less than 50 years [ 23 ]. In relation to covid vaccination status, the Roma have had low uptake in Europe [ 23 ]. Some reports state that vaccination uptake has been as low as 9% in Hungary and 1% in Slovakia for Roma communities [ 23 ]. Multiple explanations have been documented including misinformation, mistrust of healthcare systems, and poor healthcare access [ 23 ]. Positive initiatives by EU member states include the use of media campaigns, e.g. “Koronameterel” (Corona will die) in Slovakia [ 24 ]. Amalipe Roma NGO in Bulgaria ran a campaign for donation of old computers to Roma school children to access online learning [ 24 ].

Prior to covid 19, “MigRom” was a project run by the European Commission [ 25 ]. It investigated the experiences of Roma who migrated from Romania to Western Europe including Italy, France, Spain, and the UK [ 25 ]. The method included three surveys on ethnography, interviews through Romani language with Roma communities, and active involvement of Roma in research to promote Roma participation [ 25 ]. From 1989 on, there was an increase in migration of Roma from Romania due to border opening and dissolution of collective farms and state industry [ 25 ]. Romanian Roma migrants are a young age cohort [ 25 ]. As discussed previously, they have higher pregnancy rates and lower life expectancy than the majority population in many European countries, with approximately 80% less than 35 years of age [ 25 ]. Stable accommodation is key to social inclusion [ 25 ]. In the UK and Spain where Roma had access to long-term housing, there were improved school attendance and employment rates [ 25 ]. Traditional high rates of teenage pregnancy decreased, and demographic transition was seen through later pregnancies and purposeful postponement of future pregnancy [ 25 ]. Of note, many Irish Roma identify as Pentecostal religion which discourages contraception [ 1 , 25 ].

Apart from the Irish NRIS, other European member states such as the UK attempted to implement strategies of Roma inclusion [ 25 ]. In Manchester city, proposals were put forward for education pathways and school admission protocols targeting the Roma; however, none were implemented [ 25 ]. A 3-year community outreach programme was also run in Manchester; it involved Roma peer led advice and support in collaboration with Manchester city council [ 25 ]. Roma Voices of Manchester is an NGO set-up by the Roma community [ 25 ]. In contrast, regions of France and Italy have local policies of Roma seclusion in attempts to remove Roma from cities such as Paris and Milan [ 25 ].

In an Irish context, the TRIP, although confined to the Tallaght region, has been the most successful example of collaboration between a healthcare service specific to Roma and mainstream healthcare [ 15 ]. The TRIP has demonstrated that initiatives like this are possible with Roma participation and trust building between relevant parties [ 15 ]. This project is applicable to a range of healthcare services in Ireland, promoting accessibility and cultural awareness [ 15 ]. Other successful local projects providing support to Roma include Waterford integration and support unit established in 2013 [ 5 ]. The Waterford service provides Roma health advocates for hospital appointments and additional support including applying for habitual residence [ 5 ]. Musicantia centre in Balbriggan established for Roma children and young people provides interpreters, advocacy, and a music school [ 5 , 7 ]. These are examples of the positive actions of local organisations for the Roma community, but despite this, there is still a dearth of literature within the Irish healthcare context. This paper is intended as an overview of the Roma in Ireland. It is hoped that this paper will prove useful to Irish healthcare providers when navigating Roma culture in the provision of optimum and culturally competent care for a Roma child and their family.

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9 myths and the truth about Gypsies and Travellers

For starters, only a small number of travellers camp illegally

• 00:01, 25 OCT 2019
• Updated 15:20, 25 OCT 2019

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Travellers and Gypsies are one of the most misunderstood minority groups in the UK.

To combat this  the Travellers' Times website has created a guide, which aims to promote positive images of the Traveller and Gypsy community.

It has been written in response to hate crime and racist language directed towards their communities.

Cambridgeshire has seen tensions between the Traveller and settled communities in recent years, with caravans pitching on unauthorised sites across including Fulbourn, Papworth, Cambourne and at Cambridge Business and Research Park.

As well as causing disruption to residential communities, there can often be a hefty clean-up bill as some groups leave behind piles of rubbish.

Cambridge police say they are committed to working with local councils to tackle the problem and has previously used powers under Section 61 of the Crime and Disorder Act to order unlawful encampments to disperse.

But, as the Travellers' Times points out, a only a small number of Travellers camp illegally.

While tensions can run high at times many people hold misconceptions, which Travellers' Times hopes to dispell.

Things you should know about gypsies and travellers according to Travellers' Times

There are nine reoccurring myths and misconceptions about their culture and origins.

1) Who are the UK’s Gypsies and Travellers?

Travellers and Gypsies have a rich and varied history.

Romany Gypsies are the descendants of a migration of peoples from Northern India in the 10-12AD, who spread across Eastern and Western Europe, reaching Great Britain in around the 1600’s.

Irish Travellers – or Pavee – and Scottish Travellers - are the descendants of a nomadic people who have traditionally inhabited Ireland and mainland Britain.

Roma usually refers to the descendants of the migration of various groups of peoples from Northern India in the 10th to 12th century who settled in Eastern and Western Europe.

2) Should we use a capital letter to start ‘gypsy and/or traveller’?

Romany Gypsies, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Travellers are all ethnic minorities, recognised under UK law and the Irish government.

Therefore it is customary to capitalise ‘G’ and ‘T’ for Gypsies and Travellers.

3) Lifestyle, ethnic group or ‘community’?

Research shows Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) should be seen as ethnic groups rather than ‘lifestyles’.

All the different GRT groups in the UK have a shared language or dialect, some shared cultural practices, most will identify as an ethnic group, and all individuals from all groups are legally recognised as ethnic minorities under the Equalities Act 2010.

4) How many Travellers live in the UK?

In the 2011 Census, 58,000 people identified themselves as Gypsy or Irish Traveller, accounting for just 0.1 per cent of the resident population of England and Wales. However the figure is likely to be much higher.

5) Traveller politics

There is a cross-party parliamentary group called the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

This is currently led by the charity Friends, Families and Travellers and the co-Chairs are Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, and Baroness Janet Whitaker.

6) Where do Travellers live?

The number of Gypsy and Traveller caravans in England and Wales is recorded twice yearly.

The vast majority of Gypsies and Travellers living in caravans stay on permanent public and private sites which have planning permission, waste collection and are subject to rent (unless of course the site is privately owned by the occupier), council tax and utility bills.

7) A small minority pitch on unauthorised land

A small minority of Gypsies and Traveller caravans are classed as unauthorised and staying on land they do not own, such as roadside camps.

This minority, which will include Gypsies and Travellers with no other place to stay and also Gypsies and Travellers moving off authorised sites to go ‘travelling’ during the summer, receives the vast majority of local news coverage.

7) Criminal Justice System

Far too many Gypsies and Travellers are in prison, as many as five per cent of the population according to Government research.

Meanwhile 0.13 per cent of the general UK population are in prision.

The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain works with Gypsies and Travellers in custody. Some prisons have their own GRT Prisoner Groups. The Travellers’ Times Magazine is delivered free to many UK HMP’s and the editor receives many letters from prisoners.

8) Nomadism

Nomadism is a shared heritage of Gypsies and Travellers and not a present reality.

Not all Gypsies and Irish and Scottish Travellers ‘travel’ – or may only ‘travel’ to traditional cultural events like Appleby Horse Fair.

9) Prejudice, oppression and the Holocaust

Many Gypsies, Roma and Travellers face daily prejudice based on negative stereotyping and misunderstanding.

This is because people generalise from the anti-social actions of a few and protect that onto the whole population.

Prejudice against them is longstanding.

In some Eastern and even Western European countries, Roma are segregated and live in camps and slums isolated from the rest of the population.

Alongside the Jewish population Roma were specifically singled out for extermination by Nazi racial policy.

Historians estimate the number murdered by Nazi and axis regimes during the Second World War to be around 500,000, although some historians say it is closer to a million.

• Most Recent

Who are the Irish Travellers in the US?

They're one of ireland's oldest and most marginalized minorities but who are the irish travellers in the us.

One of Ireland's oldest and most marginalized minorities but how much to do you know about Irish Travellers in America?

In Ireland, nearly everybody is aware of the existence of the Irish Travellers  — they’re one of Ireland’s oldest and most marginalized minority groups, known for their itinerant lifestyle, distinct dialects and oft-questioned traditions.

However, many people know that there are also communities of Irish Travellers in America.

A few times each year, a headline will pop up about Irish Travellers in the US. Sometimes it’ll be from a local newspaper in South Carolina or Texas; on rarer occasions, such as the bust of a high-profile rhinoceros horn smuggling ring, it’ll be in Bloomberg Businessweek . Except for the occasional story expressing interest in the culture or history of the Travellers, the articles are typically from the crime section — detailing a theft or scam, or local concern that the Travellers have arrived in the area.

But if you don’t happen to live in those areas or catch those headlines, and if you missed out on that one famous episode of "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding," you’d be easily forgiven for not having any idea that the Irish Travellers have lived in the US for generations. They’re not recognized as a distinct ethnic group by the US Census, and, what’s more, Irish Americans  have never claimed them under the umbrella of the Irish diaspora.

What little we do know about the Irish Travellers here in America comes from those very news articles, and from a scant number of books and documentaries.

There are believed to be anywhere from 7,000 to 40,000 Irish Travellers in the US, though most estimates lie closer to the 10,000 mark. The Travellers here descended from groups who left Ireland around the time of the Great Hunger and settled in the US, carving out a similar lifestyle to the one they followed in Ireland.

Like their counterparts in Ireland, Irish Travellers in the US speak their own dialects of Cant, Shelta, or Gammon, which can include elements of Irish, Gaelic, English, Greek, and Hebrew.

Also similar to their Ireland-based counterparts, the American Irish Travellers identify as strictly  Catholic  and adhere to their own traditions and mores. The men travel and work and the women raise the children. Many of the women are promised to their future husbands in arranged marriages when they are very young.

Their primary trade is repair work, often categorized as dubious in nature (though the fairness of that generalization has been called into question). But the US Irish Travellers have also, over the years, amassed fortunes through a unique internal economy based on life insurance policies.

As Paul Connolly, who made a documentary about Irish Travellers in the US for the Irish channel TV3 in 2013, told The Journal : “Most of the income comes from insurance. . . In America, there’s a clause which allows you to insure anyone with a blood connection — and as they have intermarried for generations, there’s a likelihood there will be a blood connection.

"So they’ve worked out a way of profiting from this, and that, according to the Travellers I’ve spoken to, is how they make their money and how they’re so wealthy. Some of the more morbid characters we came across referred to it as ‘Death Watch’.”

Perhaps the most notorious instance of this system gone awry took place in 2015, when Anita Fox, a 69-year-old Irish Traveller woman in Texas, was found stabbed to death. Police later identified the perpetrators as Gerard and Bernard Gorman, who held a $1 million life insurance policy in Fox’s name.

There are Irish Traveller enclaves in Texas, in the Houston and Fort Worth areas, as well as in South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, with smaller settlements found in rural New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Many of the groups identify based on where in the US their ancestors first based themselves, such as the Ohio Travellers, Georgia Travellers, Texas Travellers, and Mississippi Travellers.

The largest-known Irish Traveller community in the US is in Murphy Village, South Carolina, which, as noted in a report by the Florida Ancient Order of Hibernians, is home to approximately 1,500 people with only 11 different surnames.

According to a 2002 article in the Washington Post , “The Irish Travelers who settled in the United States in the 19th century migrated to different parts of the country and established their own clan groups, often with little intermingling across regions.

“The Sherlocks, O'Haras and others settled [in Murphy Village] in the 1960s, on land around a Catholic church whose pastor, the Rev. Joseph Murphy, became the patron and namesake of the growing community just outside the town of North Augusta.”

Far from a caravan or mobile home community, Murphy Village has become home to an increasing number of suburban “McMansions” in recent decades, as the US Irish Travellers build permanent homes, which they use as a base between travels and for holidays. In this regard, its closest Irish counterpart is Rathkeale, Co. Limerick, which was the subject of a New York Times story in 2012 , chronicling the massive homecoming that takes place every Christmas.

“The Riches,” a serial drama about a contemporary Irish Traveller family in the US, starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, aired on FX for two seasons, in 2007 and 2008.

H/T Slate , The Journal , The Washington Post , Florida AOH .

* Originally published in Sept 2016.

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Our right to roam - victory for Gypsies and Travellers in High Court challenge

‘Anti Traveller’ law declared “unjustified discrimination” by High Court judge

The High Court has today ruled that certain parts in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 that were introduced in 2022 (the anti-Traveller law), amount to unjustified discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers.

Parliament will now have to review the controversial law to ensure that it complies with human rights.

The High Court challenge was brought by Wendy Smith, a Romani Gypsy. She challenged the anti-Traveller law that gave the police new and extended enforcement powers to evict Romany Gypsies and Travellers from unauthorised encampments, and to seize their homes and send them to prison if they failed to leave.

The charity Friends, Families and Travellers supported Wendy Smith with the High Court challenge as interveners.

Abbie Kirkby, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Friends, Families and Travellers said:

“The new police powers are part of a wider hostile environment against Gypsies and Travellers, particularly for families who have nowhere else to stop.

But, today’s ruling is a triumph for Gypsy and Traveller people, against one of the government’s flagship policies,” added Abbie Kirkby.

“Whilst some of the main provisions in the Act remain, they have been significantly diluted by this ruling.

We extend our congratulations to Wendy Smith and commend her bravery in standing up for what’s right.”

The new police powers made it a criminal offence, punishable with up to three months imprisonment, for Travellers to pull on to land with their homes, and then fail to comply with a request by the owner of the land to leave. The new powers also forbade anyone forced to leave from re-occupying the land within 12 months.

It was this 12 month no return part of the anti-Traveller law that the High Court said was; “unjustified race discrimination in circumstances where there was a lack of authorised transit site provision on which Gypsies and Travellers could camp lawfully.”

The High Court ruling has thrown the use of all parts of the new police powers into doubt, as police must now act within official police guidance , which campaigners say was an attempt by Police chiefs – who have always said that they didn’t want the new law – to water down the draconian powers contained in the original act of parliament.

Marc Willers KC, lead counsel for the claimant, commented:

“This is a hugely significant judgment. In granting the declaration of incompatibility, the Court recognised that there is a lack of lawful stopping places for Gypsies and Travellers and that unless the government increases provision, the law as currently drafted will amount to unjustified race discrimination.”

Chris Johnson, the claimant’s solicitor, commented:

“I am delighted for Ms Smith. Key parts of the enforcement powers introduced by the Police Act have been found to be unlawful race discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers. The National Police Chiefs Council never wanted these new powers and following this judgment, it is hard to see what the new powers will add in practice. I hope that Parliament takes this opportunity to look again at the new powers as a whole.”

When the anti-Traveller law was first announced by the Government in 2021, it sparked condemnation among Romany Gypsies and Travellers campaigners, who said it would criminalise the nomadic way of life and destroy their heritage.

Drive 2 Survive, a Romani and Traveller-led organisation founded by Sherrie Smith and Jake Bowers, was set up to specifically challenge the new law by holding protests, raising awareness, and building alliances with other minority groups and causes.

On July 7th, 2021 Romany Gypsies, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and New Travellers, Roma, Van-Dwellers and supporters from all over the UK, flocked to Parliament Square in their hundreds to support the Drive 2 Survive rally and show their unity and opposition to the new law , then known as the ‘Police Bill’.

For the Conservative Party that brought in this piece of ineffective performative cruelty, lets hope it becomes another nail in their electoral coffin. When parliament reviews this legislation it is vital that it changes the law to defend a nomadic right to roam.

The successful claimant, Wendy Smith, was represented by Marc Willers KC and Ollie Persey of Garden Court Chambers. They were instructed by Chris Johnson of Community Law Partnership (‘CLP’). Chris was assisted by Andy Marlow of CLP.

Stephen Simblet KC and Nadia O’Mara acted for the First Intervener, Friends, Families and Travellers (‘FFT’), instructed by Parminder Sanghera of CLP.

This was Chris Johnson’s final case before retirement. For decades, Chris and his team at CLP have been at the forefront of legal challenges protecting and advancing the rights of Gypsies and Travellers. It is fitting that in his final case the Court has issued a declaration of incompatibility, which will have significant wider implications for Gypsies and Travellers.

Well done to all from the Travellers’ Times, and enjoy your retirement Chris Johnson! What a retirement present - and a gift to our communities!

(Lead photo: Romany Gypsy John Doe leads his cart from Stable Way, Hammersmith, to take campaigners to the Drive 2 Survive 2021 rally in Parliament Square (c) Huw Powell)

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• Ethnicity facts and figures homepage Home

Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller ethnicity summary

Updated 29 March 2022

1. About this page

2. the gypsy, roma and traveller group, 3. classifications, 4. improving data availability and quality, 5. population data, 6. education data, 7. economic activity and employment data.

• 8. Home ownership data data
• 9. Health data

This is a summary of statistics about people from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ethnic groups living in England and Wales.

It is part of a series of summaries about different ethnic groups .

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) is a term used to describe people from a range of ethnicities who are believed to face similar challenges. These groups are distinct, but are often reported together.

This page includes:

• information about GRT data and its reliability
• some statistics from the 2011 Census
• other statistics on the experiences of people from the GRT groups in topics including education, housing and health

This is an overview based on a selection of data published on Ethnicity facts and figures or analyses of other sources. Some published data (for example, on higher education) is only available for the aggregated White ethnic group, and is not included here.

Through this report, we sometimes make comparisons with national averages. While in other reports we might compare with another ethnic group (usually White British), we have made this decision here because of the relatively small impact the GRT group has on the overall national average.

The term Gypsy, Roma and Traveller has been used to describe a range of ethnic groups or people with nomadic ways of life who are not from a specific ethnicity.

In the UK, it is common in data collections to differentiate between:

• Gypsies (including English Gypsies, Scottish Gypsies or Travellers, Welsh Gypsies and other Romany people)
• Irish Travellers (who have specific Irish roots)
• Roma, understood to be more recent migrants from Central and Eastern Europe

The term Traveller can also encompass groups that travel. This includes, but is not limited to, New Travellers, Boaters, Bargees and Showpeople. (See the House of Commons Committee report on Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities .)

For the first time, the 2011 Census ethnic group question included a tick box for the ethnic group ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’. This was not intended for people who identify as Roma because they are a distinct group with different needs to Gypsy or Irish Travellers.

The 2021 Census had a ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ category, and a new ‘Roma’ category.

A 2018 YouGov poll found that 66% of people in the UK wrongly viewed GRT not to be an ethnic group, with many mistaking them as a single group (PDF). It is therefore important that GRT communities are categorised correctly on data forms, using separate tick boxes when possible to reflect this.

The 2011 Census figures used in this report and on Ethnicity facts and figures are based on respondents who chose to identify with the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group. People who chose to write in Roma as their ethnicity were allocated to the White Other group, and data for them is not included here. Other data, such as that from the Department for Education, includes Roma as a category combined with Gypsy, with Irish Traveller shown separately.

The commentary in this report uses the specific classifications in each dataset. Users should exercise caution when comparing different datasets, for example between education data (which uses Gypsy/Roma, and Irish Traveller in 2 separate categories) and the Census (which uses Gypsy and Irish Traveller together, but excludes data for people who identify as Roma).

Finally, it should be noted that there is also a distinction that the government makes, for the purposes of planning policy, between those who travel and the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ethnicities. The Department for Communities and Local Government (at the time, now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) planning policy for traveller sites (PDF) defines "gypsies and travellers" as:

"Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such."

This definition for planning purposes includes any person with a nomadic habit, whether or not they might have identified as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller in a data collection.

The April 2019 House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee report on inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities noted that there was a lack of data on these groups.

The next section highlights some of the problems associated with collecting data on these groups, and what is available. Some of the points made about surveys, sample sizes and administrative data are generally applicable to any group with a small population.

Improving data for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations, as well as other under-represented groups in the population is part of the recommendations in the Inclusive Data Taskforce report and the key activities described in the ONS response to them. For example, in response to recommendation 3 of the report, ONS, RDU and others will "build on existing work and develop new collaborative initiatives and action plans to improve inclusion of under-represented population groups in UK data in partnership with others across government and more widely".

Also, the ONS response to recommendation 4 notes the development of a range of strategies to improve the UK data infrastructure and fill data gaps to provide more granular data through new or boosted surveys and data linkage. Recommendation 6 notes that research will be undertaken using innovative methods best suited to the research question and prospective participants, to understand more about the lived experiences of several groups under-represented in UK data and evidence, such as people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups.

4.1 Classifications

In some data collections, the option for people to identify as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller is not available. Any data grouped to the 5 aggregated ethnic groups does not show the groups separately. Data based on the 2001 Census does not show them separately as there was no category for people identifying as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller. As part of our Quality Improvement Plan, the Race Disparity Unit (RDU) has committed to working with government departments to maintain a harmonised approach to collecting data about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people using the GSS harmonised classification. The harmonised classification is currently based on the 2011 Census, and an update is currently being considered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In particular, RDU has identified working with DHSC and NHS Digital colleagues as a priority – the NHS classification is based on 2001 Census classifications and does not capture information on any of the GRT groups separately (they were categorised as White Other in the 2001 Census). Some of these issues have been outlined in the quarterly reports on progress to address COVID-19 health inequalities .

Research into how similar or different the aggregate ethnic groups are shows how many datasets are available for the GRT group.

Further information on the importance of harmonisation is also available.

4.2 Census data

A main source of data on the Gypsy and Irish Traveller groups is the 2011 Census. This will be replaced by the 2021 Census when results are published by the ONS. The statistics in this summary use information from Ethnicity facts and figures and the Census section of ONS’s NOMIS website.

4.3 Survey data

It is often difficult to conclude at any one point in time whether a disparity is significant for the GRT population, as the population is so small in comparison to other ethnic groups.

Even a large sample survey like the Annual Population Survey (APS) has a small number of responses from the Gypsy and Irish Traveller ethnic group each year. Analysis of 3 years of combined data for 2016, 2017 and 2018 showed there were 62 people in the sample (out of around 500,000 sampled cases in total over those 3 years) in England and Wales. Another large survey, the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey, recorded 58 people identifying as Gypsy or Traveller out of 157,000 people surveyed between 2011 and 2019.

Small sample sizes need not be a barrier to presenting data if confidence intervals are provided to help the user. But smaller sample sizes will mean wider confidence intervals, and these will provide limited analytical value. For the 2016 to 2018 APS dataset – and using the standard error approximation method given in the LFS User Guide volume 6 with a fixed design factor of 1.6 (the formula is 1.6 * √p(1 − p)/n where p is the proportion in employment and n is the sample size.) – the employment rate of 35% for working age people in the Gypsy and Traveller group in England and Wales would be between 16% and 54% (based on a 95% confidence interval). This uses the same methodology as the ONS’s Sampling variability estimates for labour market status by ethnicity .

A further reason for smaller sample sizes might be lower response rates. The Women and Select Committee report on the inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities noted that people in these groups may be reluctant to self-identify, even where the option is available to them. This is because Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people might mistrust the intent behind data collection.

The RDU recently published a method and quality report on working out significant differences between estimates for small groups using different analytical techniques.

4.4 Administrative data

While administrative data does not suffer from the same issues of sampling variability, small numbers of respondents can mean that data is either disclosive and needs to be suppressed to protect the identity of individuals, or results can fluctuate over time.

An example of this is the measure of students getting 3 A grades or better at A level . In 2019 to 2020, no Irish Traveller students achieved this (there were 6 students in the cohort). In 2017 to 2018, 2 out of 7 Irish Traveller students achieved 3 A grades, or 28.6% – the highest percentage of all ethnic groups.

Aggregating time periods might help with this, although data collected in administrative datasets can change over time to reflect the information that needs to be collected for the administrative process. The data collected would not necessarily be governed by trying to maintain a consistent time series in the same way that data collected through surveys sometimes are.

4.5 Data linkage

Linking datasets together provides a way of producing more robust data for the GRT groups, or in fact, any ethnic group. This might improve the quality of the ethnicity coding in the dataset being analysed if an ethnicity classification that is known to be more reliable is linked from another dataset.

Data linkage does not always increase the sample size or the number of records available in the dataset to be analysed, but it might do if records that have missing ethnicity are replaced by a known ethnicity classification from a linked dataset.

An example is the linking of the Census data to Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data and death registrations by the ONS. The ethnicity classifications for GRT groups are not included in the HES data, and are not collected in the death registrations process at the moment. So this data linking gives a way to provide some information for Gypsy and Irish Travellers and other smaller groups. The report with data up to 15 May 2020 noted 16 Gypsy or Irish Traveller deaths from COVID-19.

RDU will be working with ONS and others to explore the potential for using data linking to get more information for the GRT groups.

4.6 Bespoke surveys and sample boosts

A country-wide, or even local authority, boost of a sample survey is unlikely to make estimates for the GRT groups substantially more robust. This is because of the relatively small number in the groups to begin with.

Bespoke surveys can be used to get specific information about these groups. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities list of traveller sites available through their Traveller caravan count statistics can help target sampling for surveys, for example. Bespoke surveys might be limited in geographical coverage, and more suitable for understanding GRT views in a local area and then developing local policy responses. An example of a bespoke survey is the Roma and Travellers in 6 countries survey .

Another method that could be useful is snowball sampling. Snowball sampling (or chain-referral sampling) is a sampling technique in which the respondents have traits that are rare to find. In snowball sampling, existing survey respondents provide referrals to recruit further people for the survey, which helps the survey grow larger.

There are advantages to snowball sampling. It can target hidden or difficult to reach populations. It can be a good way to sample hesitant respondents, as a person might be more likely to participate in a survey if they have been referred by a friend or family member. It can also be quick and cost effective. Snowball sampling may also be facilitated with a GRT community lead or cultural mediator. This would help bridge the gap between the GRT communities and the commissioning department to encourage respondent participation.

However, one statistical disadvantage is that the sampling is non-random. This reduces the knowledge of whether the sample is representative, and can invalidate some of the usual statistical tests for statistical significance, for example.

All data in this section comes from the 2011 Census of England and Wales, unless stated otherwise.

In 2011, there were 57,680 people from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group in England and Wales, making up 0.1% of the total population. In terms of population, it is the smallest of the 18 groups used in the 2011 Census.

Further ONS analysis of write-in responses in the Census estimated the Roma population as 730, and 1,712 people as Gypsy/Romany.

Table A: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller write-in ethnicity responses on the 2011 Census

Source: Census - Ethnic group (write-in response) Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, GypsyRomany - national to county (ONS). The figures do not add to the 57,680 classified as White: Gypsy/Traveller because Roma is included as White Other, and some people in the other categories shown will have classified themselves in an ethnic group other than White.

An ONS report in 2014 noted that variations in the definitions used for this ethnic group has made comparisons between estimates difficult. For example, some previous estimates for Gypsy or Irish Travellers have included Roma or have been derived from counts of caravans rather than people's own self-identity. It noted that other sources of data estimate the UK’s Gypsy, Roma and Traveller population to be in the region of 150,000 to 300,000 , or as high as 500,000 (PDF).

5.1 Where Gypsy and Irish Traveller people live

There were 348 local authorities in England and Wales in 2011. The Gypsy or Irish Traveller population was evenly spread throughout them. The 10 local authorities with the largest Gypsy or Irish Traveller populations constituted 11.9% of the total population.

Figure 1: Percentage of the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population of England and Wales living in each local authority area (top 10 areas labelled)

Basildon was home to the largest Gypsy or Irish Traveller population, with 1.5% of all Gypsy or Irish Traveller people living there, followed by Maidstone (also 1.5%, although it had a smaller population).

Table 1: Percentage of the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population of England and Wales living in each local authority area (top 10)

28 local authorities had fewer than 20 Gypsy or Irish Traveller residents each. This is around 1 in 12 of all local authorities.

11.7% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people lived in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods , higher than the national average of 9.9% (England, 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation).

81.6% of people from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group were born in England, and 6.1% in the other countries of the UK. 3.0% were born in Ireland and 8.3% were born somewhere else in Europe (other than the UK and Ireland). Less than 1.0% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were born outside of Europe.

5.2 Age profile

The Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group had a younger age profile than the national average in England and Wales in 2011.

People aged under 18 made up over a third (36%) of the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population, higher than the national average of 21%.

18.0% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were aged 50 and above , lower than the national average of 35.0%.

Figure 2: Age profile of Gypsy or Irish Traveller and the England and Wales average

Table 2: age profile of gypsy or irish traveller and the england and wales average, 5.3 families and households.

20.4% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households were made up of lone parents with dependent children , compared with 7.2% on average for England and Wales.

Across all household types, 44.9% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households had dependent children, compared with an average of 29.1%.

8.4% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households were made up of pensioners (either couples, single pensioners, or other households where everyone was aged 65 and over), compared with 20.9% on average.

All data in this section covers pupil performance in state-funded mainstream schools in England.

At all key stages, Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller pupils’ attainment was below the national average.

Figure 3: Educational attainment among Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller and pupils from all ethnic groups

Table 3: educational attainment among gypsy, roma, irish traveller and pupils from all ethnic groups.

Source: England, Key Stage 2 Statistics, 2018/19; Key Stage 4 Statistics, 2019/20; and A Level and other 16 to 18 results, 2020/21. Ethnicity facts and figures and Department for Education (DfE). Figures for Key Stage 2 are rounded to whole numbers by DfE.

6.1 Primary education

In the 2018 to 2019 school year, 19% of White Gypsy or Roma pupils, and 26% of Irish Traveller pupils met the expected standard in key stage 2 reading, writing and maths . These were the 2 lowest percentages out of all ethnic groups.

6.2 Secondary education

In the 2019 to 2020 school year, 8.1% of White Gypsy or Roma pupils in state-funded schools in England got a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths, the lowest percentage of all ethnic groups.

Gypsy or Roma (58%) and Irish Traveller (59%) pupils were the least likely to stay in education after GCSEs (and equivalent qualifications). They were the most likely to go into employment (8% and 9% respectively) – however, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions about these groups due to the small number of pupils in key stage 4.

6.3 Further education

Gypsy or Roma students were least likely to get at least 3 A grades at A level, with 10.8% of students doing so in the 2020 to 2021 school year. 20.0% of Irish Traveller students achieved at least 3 A grades, compared to the national average of 28.9%. The figures for Gypsy or Roma (61) and Irish Traveller (19) students are based on small numbers, so any generalisations are unreliable.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the summer exam series was cancelled in 2021, and alternative processes were set up to award grades. In 2020/21 attainment is higher than would be expected in a typical year. This likely reflects the changes to the way A/AS level grades were awarded rather than improvements in student performance.

6.4 School exclusions

In the 2019 to 2020 school year, the suspension rates were 15.28% for Gypsy or Roma pupils, and 10.12% for Irish Traveller pupils – the highest rates out of all ethnic groups.

Also, the highest permanent exclusion rates were among Gypsy or Roma pupils (0.23%, or 23 exclusions for every 10,000 pupils). Irish Traveller pupils were permanently excluded at a rate of 0.14%, or 14 exclusions for every 10,000 pupils.

6.5 School absence

In the autumn term of the 2020 to 2021 school year, 52.6% of Gypsy or Roma pupils, and 56.7% of Irish Traveller pupils were persistently absent from school . Pupils from these ethnic groups had the highest rates of overall absence and persistent absence.

For the 2020 to 2021 school year, not attending in circumstances related to coronavirus (COVID-19) was not counted toward the overall absence rate and persistent absence rates.

Data in this section is from the 2011 Census for England and Wales, and for people aged 16 and over. Economic activity and employment rates might vary from other published figures that are based on people of working age.

47% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people aged 16 and over were economically active, compared to an average of 63% in England and Wales.

Of economically active people, 51% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were employees, and 26% were self-employed. 20% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were unemployed, compared to an average for all ethnic groups of 7%.

7.1 Socio-economic group

Figure 4: socio-economic group of gypsy or irish traveller and average for all ethnic groups for people aged 16 and over, table 4: socio-economic group of gypsy or irish traveller and average for all ethnic groups for people aged 16 and over.

Source: 2011 Census

31.2% of people in the Gypsy or Irish Traveller group were in the socio-economic group of ‘never worked or long-term unemployed’. This was the highest percentage of all ethnic groups.

The Gypsy or Irish Traveller group had the smallest percentage of people in the highest socio-economic groups. 2.5% were in the ‘higher, managerial, administrative, professional’ group.

15.1% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were small employers and own account workers. These are people who are generally self-employed and have responsibility for a small number of workers.

For Gypsy or Irish Travellers, who were 16 and over and in employment, the largest group worked in elementary occupations (22%). This can include occupations such as farm workers, process plant workers, cleaners, or service staff (for example, bar or cleaning staff).

The second highest occupation group was skilled trades (19%), which can include farmers, electrical and building trades. The Gypsy or Irish Traveller group had the highest percentage of elementary and skilled trade workers out of all ethnic groups.

7.2 Employment gender gap

The gender gap in employment rates for the Gypsy or Irish Traveller group aged 16 and over was nearly twice as large as for all ethnic groups combined. In the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group, 46% of men and 29% of women were employed, a gap of 17%. For all ethnic groups combined, 64% of men and 54% of women were employed, a gap of 10%.

This is likely to be due to the fact that Gypsy or Irish Traveller women (63%) were about 1.5 times as likely as Gypsy or Irish Traveller men (43%) to be economically inactive, which means they were out of work and not looking for work.

7.3 Economic inactivity

There are a range of reasons why people can be economically inactive. The most common reason for Gypsy or Irish Travellers being economically inactive was looking after the home or family (27%). This is higher than the average for England and Wales (11%). The second most common reason was being long term sick or disabled (26%) – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups.

8. Home ownership data

Figure 5: home ownership and renting among gypsy or irish traveller households and all households, table 5: home ownership and renting among gypsy or irish traveller households and all households.

Source: England, 2011 Census

In 2011, 34% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households owned their own home, compared with a national average of 64%. 42% lived in social rented accommodation, compared with a national average of 18%.

In 2016 to 2017, 0.1% of new social housing lettings went to people from Gypsy or Irish Traveller backgrounds (429 lettings).

In 2011, a whole house or bungalow was the most common type of accommodation for Gypsy or Irish Traveller households (61%). This was lower than for all usual residents in England and Wales (84%).

Caravans or other mobile or temporary homes accounted for 24% of Gypsy or Irish Travellers accommodation, a far higher percentage than for the whole of England and Wales (0.3%).

The percentage of people living in a flat, maisonette or apartment was 15% for both Gypsy or Irish Travellers and all usual residents in England and Wales.

In 2011, 14.1% of Gypsy and Irish Traveller people in England and Wales rated their health as bad or very bad, compared with 5.6% on average for all ethnic groups.

In 2016 to 2017, Gypsy or Irish Traveller people aged 65 and over had the lowest health-related quality of life of all ethnic groups (average score of 0.509 out of 1). The quality of life scores for the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group are based on a small number of responses (around 35 each year) and are less reliable as a result.

Ethnicity facts and figures has information on satisfaction of different health services for different ethnic groups. For the results presented below, the Gypsy or Irish Traveller figures are based on a relatively small number of respondents, and are less reliable than figures for other ethnic groups.

In 2014 to 2015 (the most recent data available), these groups were the most satisfied with their experience of GP-out-of-hours service , with 75.2% reporting a positive experience.

In 2018 to 2019, they were less satisfied with their experience of GP services than most ethnic groups – 73.0% reported a positive experience.

They were also among the groups that had least success when booking an NHS dentist appointment – 89.0% reported successfully booking an appointment in 2018 to 2019.

The Gypsy or Irish Traveller group were also less satisfied with their access to GP services in 2018 to 2019 – 56.9% reported a positive experience of making a GP appointment, compared to an average of 67.4% for all respondents.

Publication release date: 31 January 2022

Updated: 29 March 2022

29 March 2022: Corrected A-level data in Table 3, and All ethnic groups data in Table 4. Corrected the legend in Figure 1 (map).

31 January 2022: Initial publication.

Irish Travellers and their Language

Now I must begin with a confession: I have never been to Ireland and I do not personally know any Irish Travellers, but I have always been fascinated by their language. I know that there are some every year in my hometown in Denmark, and most often they are heading north with their caravans. I once saw, on my way to work, a group at Tangkrogen in Aarhus, but when I came back they were gone. As far as I understood, they were sent away by the police.

Irish Travellers are a minority ethnic group.  This status was recognised by the Irish State on 1st March 2017.  The Equal Status Act refers to Irish Travellers in the following way: “Traveller Community’ means the community of people who are identified (both by themselves and others) as people with a shared history, culture and traditions including, historically, a nomadic way of life on the island of Ireland.” (Equal Status Act, 2000: Pt.1 S.2).

As of 2018, Cant/Gammon is on the Irish State’s National Inventory of Intangible Heritage. The Travellers welcomed this recognition of the language and they hope it will lead to some measures to protect and promote the language.

Their language is very special in several ways. The language has been secret and hidden for many years. No one knows for sure where the language comes from. That stands in contrast to Romani. Romani is spoken by Roma (formerly known as Gypsies). It is clear that the vocabulary of Romani comes from Northwest Indian languages, and for most varieties also grammar: an Indic case system, Indic verbal and nominal morphology. Sometime in the late Middle Ages, they arrived from India in Southeastern Europe. Their origin in India has been confirmed by recent genetic research as well.

But for “Cant” or “Gammon” it is something completely different. It is not an Indian language, nor is it a Celtic language, like Irish. It is a little clearer where the population group comes from than where the language comes from. Irish Travellers do not differ much from the general Irish population in how they look. But they have lived apart from the general Irish population for almost 200 years or longer. They usually marry other Travellers. They cultivate their strong family ties. Incidentally, some have also emigrated from Ireland to the United Kingdom and the United States, and they tend to keep contact also there.

I have just read a new book about Irish Travellers. In the past, I have reviewed some books about other Travellers as well. I think there are many parallels between Scandinavian Travellers and Irish Travellers, even though they do not really have a common history. In Denmark, most travellers have become part of the general population, or they have moved to Sweden. In Sweden and Norway, the ravellers do form a network and a separate group. Their language combines Romani lexicon in a Swedish or Norwegian grammatical frame.

Now I must first say something about the book. Maria Rieder, originally from Germany, has written the book after working in an Irish Travellers Training Center for a few years. She has talked to many travellers, and she has also done more or less formal group interviews, with both men and women (but not mixed), in order to gather knowledge for her dissertation. Based on her experience in that working environment, she has written the book. It is partly ethnographic, i.e. descriptions based on her observations, and partly folk linguistic. Folk linguistics is a branch of linguistics where linguists describe what people themselves know or think about language, and not what scientists claim about the same thing. These views can be quite different.

The researcher’s interviews were, among other things, about their language. In the book, the language is always called “Cant”, which is also a word for slang in general in English. Academics have often called it Shelta (a label that Travellers themselves do not know or use), after C.G. Leland, who was the first to write about the language in the 1800s. Irish Travellers call it Gammon or just “the words”. Most interviewees have not had a schooling beyond elementary school, so they are not affected by what has been written by others about their language, or what can be found online. Although quite a lot has been published about their language, however, there are only a few words that one finds quoted throughout the book, in order to respect the supposed secrecy of the language. To show how much Romani and Cant are different, I pass on some words from the book here, adding Swedish Romani (R.)and Welsh Romani and Sanskrit (S.), the Old Indic language.

Cant                             Swedish Romani         Welsh Romani             Sanskrit

alemog ”milk”             (R. tudd ).                     thud                S. dugdhá

beoir ”woman”           (R. romni, rani ),           romni              S. ḍōmba ‘human’

corrie ”horse”             (R. grai),                      graj                  < Armenian

fe ”meat”                    (R. mass),                    mas                 S. māṁsá

feen ”person”             (R. manus),                  manuš ‘man’   S. māˊnuṣa

geg ”to ask”                (R. puttja ),                   phučel             S. pr̥ccháti

grugra ”sugar”            (R. gulipa ),                   gudlo               S. guḍá

lakeen ”girl”                (Romani rakli, tjei ),     rakli                 S. laḍikka

sarc ”field”                  (R. nita ),                      phuv                S. bhūˊmi

tari ”to give”               (R. ( de(la )),                  del(a)               S. dattá

toom ”good”               (R. fäddi, hårta ).         kuč/ kuško       S. ??

The Irish Traveller words are clearly quite different from the Romani and Sanskrit words, and the Romani and Sanskrit words are quite similar. The Romani word for “sugar” comes from an Indian word for “sweet”, and it is actually “sweetness”, but cant grugra comes, as the only word in the list, from English sugar . To hide loanwords, one can use gr- instead of the first consonant of Irish or English words.

Cant is originally a secret language that had a clear function when Travellers moved around the country road in wagons and traded with non-Travellers. Through the languages, the Travellers could identify each other and then easily communicate. In ancient Ireland, these special words were used in an Irish grammatical framework, but in the past century, they are used in an English framework. The same process happened in Sweden and Norway several centuries ago when people began to use Romani words in a Swedish framework.

In the interviews, they say that it is good to be able to use the language to be able to warn each other against threats and danger from outsiders. On the other hand, door-to-door trade is over, and the special language seems to have lost its raison d’être. Many young people are not very interested. It is incredible how much the experiences of Irish Travellers told in the book are similar to what Resande (Rejsende) in Scandinavia have experienced.

The vast majority of Irish Travellers now live in houses, while only a few still travel around, and at that only a part of the year. Irish Travellers look nostalgically back to the old days when they traded with the locals and when they had good relations with the peasants. Now they often feel discriminated against. Some hide that they are Travellers. It is getting harder and harder to travel around, and trading with the “settlers” (as they call non-Travellers) is almost impossible. It is only a few years ago that the Travellers were recognised as an ethnic group in Ireland. They have strong family ties and they want to live close together. They have their own language, but the young people are not so interested in it. The old people can also see for themselves that the language has lost much of its function. There are also more and more mixed marriages between Travellers and settlers. Their culture is important to them, but they can also see that much has disappeared and some additional things are disappearing at the moment. There are several parallels between Scandinavia and Ireland. The fact that Scandinavian and Irish history are so similar is probably due to developments in European society in the last century: better roads, more stores where isolated farmers, now motorized, can buy everything they need, and less need for ambulant trade and seasonal work – much of that taken over by machines. And at the same time, increasing discrimination from the population and tighter laws against traveling groups and regulations against door-to-door sale.

I found it an interesting book to read. The author writes well and clearly, and the information about Irish Travellers is interesting. I am an academic myself, and the academic part is also in order. The book can be recommended. There are no secrets in the book as she does not publish their names and they have given permission for the interviews.

However, there is a major drawback and that is the price tag. The book is incredibly and outrageously expensive. But one can hopefully get it cheaper. I bought it for 10 pounds sterling in the sale, an event that the publisher usually repeats every year in December.

For those who do not write books, I must add that one does not get rich by writing academic books. The author usually does not share in the winnings. These go to the publisher and their shareholders. And you only get a percentage when you have sold many copies. In return, many academics have a job at the university, where they are paid to write books and articles. Only very rarely do they get paid by publishers to write articles or books.

Rieder, Maria. 2018. Irish Traveller Language . An Ethnographic and Folk-Linguistic Exploration . Palgrave MacMillan.  ISBN 978-3-319-76714-7

https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319767130

For more information on Irish Travellers and Roma in Ireland, see the website www.paveepoint.ie

Peter Bakker is a linguist at Aarhus University. His research interests include new languages, such as the language of the Irish Travellers, with words of unknown origin embedded in an English, and formerly Irish, frame

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Irish Roma and Travellers visit Auschwitz to mark Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

Estimated half a million roma were exterminated by nazis during second world war.

Damaris Paun and Bianca Paun at the Pavee Point centre in Dublin ahead of their trip to Auschwitz to learn about the Roma Genocide. Photograph: Derek Speirs

Young Irish Roma and Travellers were among those who took part in an international event at Auschwitz and Krakow in Poland on Thursday to commemorate the Roma genocide during the Holocaust.

It is the first time a group of Irish Travellers and Roma have taken part in the annual event to mark the elimination of an estimated 500,000 Roma people by the Nazi regime.

The youth event entitled Look and Don’t Forget brings together 250 young young people, including five Irish Roma and five Travellers.

They gathered at midday at the memorial for murdered Roma and Sinti at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

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“Roma call the Holocaust the ‘Porrajmos’, which means ‘the devouring’ in Romani language. There are many stories of Roma Holocaust victims that are still waiting to be told. We want to play our part in doing this,” said Bianca Paun (20) from Kildare.

“We have an opportunity to remember people of my community who suffered, to educate our younger generations and to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone again.”

August 2nd is assigned Roma Holocaust Memorial Day because on the night of August 2nd, 1944, the remaining 2,897 Roma women, old men and children from the so called “Zigeunerlager” or “Gypsy” camp were killed in gas chambers. There were no Roma and Sinti survivors from Auschwitz.

The Irish Roma and Traveller delegation pictured at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Thursday.

It is estimated between one and two-thirds of the Roma community living in Europe at the time were exterminated, or about half a million Roma. At least another 500,000 were displaced, dispossessed, or had their identity papers lost or destroyed. Many were also sterilised against their will.

"Being in Auschwitz and seeing where these events took place makes it all so much more real," said Gabi Muntean of Pavee Point Traveller and Roma centre.

“It is almost unbelievable what happened under the Nazis until you walk the same rooms, see the same sky and feel what it was like for our community,” she said.

Irish Traveller Patrick Reilly said the community had many similarities with the Roma people.

“For me to visit Auschwitz and see and hear about what happened here makes me realise the suffering of the Roma community. If Irish Travellers fear racism and discrimination – I can only imagine what the fear of discrimination is like for Roma who have the Roma genocide as part of their history.”

The genocide of the Roma people during the Holocaust wasn’t formally recognised until 1982.

Pavee Point said Roma across Europe continue to be subjected to racially motivated hate crime, violence, persecution, expulsion and discrimination.

Roma Holocaust Memorial Day was first marked on August 2nd, 2009.

Since then, one minute's silence is observed at the Holocaust memorial stone at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and by Roma throughout Europe.

Those who travelled for the event were Damaris Paun (17) from Kildare, Jason Sherlock (20) from Galway, Lois Brookes Jones (20), from Shropshire, England; Bianca Paun (20), from Kildare, Megan Berry (21) from Carlow and Tracey Reilly (30), from Finglas, Dublin.

Also with the group were Lisa Petrovici (20), Enniscorthy; Richard O’Leary (21), from Mullingar; Michael Collins (30), from Coolock, Dublin and Alex Petrovics (20), from Enniscorthy.

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Belfast pupils learn about history and culture of Traveller community

The unique learning experience gave students an insight into traveller life and identities.

Pupils from St Mary’s PS in Divis Street have hosted a Traveller-led community development programme.

The history workshop led by the Meath Traveller’s Workshop looks at Traveller life in the 1950s. As part of the workshop pupils saw a fully restored Barrel Top Wagon, a traditional tent, and a camp-fire.

Meath Travellers Workshop Ltd is a voluntary community development organisation, a partnership of Travellers and settled people working together.

Their programme include Traveller heritage and culture awareness, childcare, youth and community development. They also address issues such as education accommodation and employment, while also providing family supports and citizen information amongst Travellers.

The group is working with Community Restorative Justice Ireland on the project to educate others about Traveller history and experiences.

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Tyson Fury: The Gypsy King and his Irish roots

Born in Manchester, Tyson Fury is deeply proud of his family ties to Ireland.

The 35-year-old’s family are part of the Irish Traveller community and Tyson refers to himself as the Gypsy King.

Roots in Ireland through his Irish Traveller parents

Tyson’s father, former heavyweight boxer John Fury, was born in Tuam, Co Galway, but moved to England to seek work, while his mother, Amber Fury, was born in Belfast and her mother was from Co Tipperary.

Tyson was born in Manchester and as a young fighter always made clear his wish to represent Ireland as an amateur.

He told RTÉ Sport that he would like to win a world title at Croke Park in Dublin.

Representing Ireland as an amateur and his citizenship issues

The Gypsy King represented both Ireland and England at national amateur level before turning professional in 2008.

He represented Ireland three times at a national underage level.

He fought in a double international match against Poland, winning both his bouts but the Irish team lost 12-6 overall.

He also won gold and silver respectively at the EU and European junior championships whilst representing Ireland.

He also represented Ireland in an international match against the USA, again winning his match but the team ultimately lost to the Americans.

Fury was a member of the Holy Family Boxing Club in Belfast before switching to the Smithboro Club in Co Monaghan.

Fury wanted to go so far as to represent Ireland at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing but there was a dispute over his citizenship. It has been reported that the birth of Fury’s father had not been registered with the state.

After becoming world heavyweight champion, having beaten Vladimir Klitschko, Tyson declared that becoming world champion was “easier than proving my Irishness”.

Despite their pride and strong links, the Furys have not always been happy with the Irish boxing scene.

John Fury told the Irish Post that he feels Tyson should get more respect from Ireland and England but that his son is seen for his Traveller roots and not the fighter he is.

Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk

Tyson Fury will fight Ukrainian challenger Oleksandr Uysk at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a bid for either fighter to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

The Gypsy King holds the WBC heavyweight title, whilst Usyk holds the WBA, IBF, WBO and The Ring heavyweight belts, all five belts make up every world championship you could win in professional heavyweight boxing.

Fury and Usyk will meet in a 12-round heavyweight clash on Saturday May 18 with the ring walks for the main event expected at 11pm Irish time.

How Fury will emerge from the dressing room is an event in itself if his previous ring walks are anything to go by - he has entered the ring dressed as Apollo Creed from Rocky 4 and as a Spartan warrior, while for his second meeting with Deontay Wilder he was carried in on a throne.

Before the unbeaten rivals collide they will come head to head twice, at a Thursday evening press conference and a weigh-in the following day.

When asked if he would be looking to wind up his opponent at the first of those opportunities, the 35-year-old hinted that he would look to unsettle Usyk.

“I’m always on the wind up, aren’t I? I think I was born winding people up,” said Fury, who was watched intently by Usyk as he completed his public workout.

“Keep tuned and keep your eyes peeled, we’ve got some big stuff coming over the next few days.

“I always have a crazy little ring walk and you wouldn’t expect anything different for the biggest fight in my life, would you?

“I don’t think it’s ever been done before so it’s definitely going to be a surprise.”

Gypsy King and family on Netflix show

Following his shocking retirement in 2022, Tyson Fury and his family took part in a Netflix documentary series showing the former heavyweight champion of the world trying to take a step back from the spotlight and stepping into a more family-orientated role.

The series was a Netflix hit, with Tyson’s wife Paris and their children Venezuela, Prince Tyson II (Tutti), Prince John James, Valencia, Prince Adonis and Athena. Their youngest, Prince Rico, was born after the series aired.

Tyson Fury’s sons are named Prince, when asked why in an interview with the Daily Mirror in 2020, he said that he was a king and they were all his princes until they earned their rightful name.

Frequently asked questions

Who is tyson fury’s mum.

Amber Fury is Tyson Fury’s mum, born in Belfast, Co Antrim, to a mother from Co Tipperary.

Is Tyson Fury retired?

Tyson Fury has toyed with the idea of retirement before, even announcing so and starring in a Netflix series to document his transition, but then realised that he did not want to retire and stepped back into the ring to fight Derek Chisora.

How old is Tyson Fury?

Tyson Fury is 35 years old. He was born on August 12 1988, in Wythenshawe, a suburb of Manchester, England.

How tall is Tyson Fury?

Tyson Fury is 6ft 9in and has an arm reach of 85in.