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Burton demands apology over Traveller culture Dáil question

Joan Burton accused Minister Josepha Madigan of refusing to provide answers about funding for Traveler culture projects
Joan Burton accused Minister Josepha Madigan of refusing to provide answers about funding for Traveler culture projects

Former Tánaiste Joan Burton has demanded an apology from the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht over a failure to answer a Dáil question about Traveller culture.

The Labour TD accused Minister Josepha Madigan of refusing to provide answers about funding for projects that looked at Traveler culture.

A spokesperson for the Minister has insisted the answer to the question was clearly a matter for the Department of Justice.

Joan Burton had tabled a question about available funding for artists or institutions dedicated to highlighting the place of Traveler culture and history in Irish society.

"I got a reply with the Minister refusing to take the question but putting the Travellers into the Department of Justice. Now Minister Madigan has form in relation to objecting to Traveller housing, is she objecting to Traveller culture as well?" Joan Burton told the Dáil.

She added that this is what "apartness and separation means" and the question was a valid one for the Culture Minister rather than the Department of Justice.

The Minister's spokesperson said the question was answered by the Department of Justice because that department oversees the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy.

This strategy helps members of the Traveller and Roma communities to develop new and ambitious initiatives exploring Traveller and Roma arts, culture and traditions.

They added that the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht itself has also supported initiatives to support Traveller culture.

This includes the Travellers Journey Exhibition at the National Museum in Turlough Park.

Funding for Traveller traditions such as tin-smithing and Cant, the traditional language spoken by Irish Travellers, was included too in the Department's budget this year.

Sources close to the Minister are accusing the Labour TD of seeking to play cheap political tricks with a serious issue.