Tuberculosis levels among Travellers are three times higher than those in the rest of the Republic's white indigenous population, according to a new study.
The research also found that in Travellers the average age of a TB patient was 26 compared to 43 in the general population and 49 in the white indigenous population.
The study was conducted between 2002 and 2013 by researchers from the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin in conjunction with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre.
It focused for the first time on the incidence of TB in Travellers in the Republic and found that the number of new cases in 2011 and 2012 was approximately three times higher than in rest of the indigenous population.
The researchers said an outbreak of TB among Travellers in 2013 increased the gap even further.
The report's lead author, Dr Ronan O'Toole, said the findings underlined a continuation in lower-than-average health outcomes for Travellers.
A separate 2014 study found they suffered a higher incidence of invasive meningococcal disease and the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study of 2010 found that infant mortality rates were approximately three-and-a-half times higher than the average.
It also found that Travellers' life expectancy at birth was more than ten years below the average.
