Traveller Pride Week, a two-week event celebrating the culture, heritage and identity of Travellers has started with a Traveller Arts Festival in Dublin.
The theme this year is "a celebration of Traveller changemakers in Irish history", which aims to unite Travellers and settled allies in promoting Traveller rights and contributing to positive change in Travellers' lived experience in Ireland.
Speaking at the launch of the week, Minister for Equality Roderic O’Gorman said: "Traveller Pride Week is a wonderful opportunity to recognise the positive contributions of Travellers in society and to promote respect and understanding of cultural diversity.
"It is a fantastic celebration of the culture, unique traditions and rich heritage of the Traveller community, with the whole of Irish society."
CEO of Involve Youth Services and member of the Traveller Pride Week Steering Committee Michael Power said: "Traveller Pride Week provides an opportunity to promote understanding, acceptance, and equality while raising awareness about the challenges faced by this historically marginalised group.
"Through various educational workshops and seminars, we hope that we can dispel myths and stereotypes surrounding the Traveller community and work towards fostering a more inclusive society.
"We encourage members of the Traveller community and the non-Traveller community to come together, learn from one another and challenge these stereotypes."
Traveller artists performing at the event included renowned uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, singers Trish Reilly and Selina O’Leary and poet Helen Hutchinson.
Ms Hutchinson said: "Young travellers here today, as you’ll see, the acting and singing, the poetry and the storytelling, it’s wonderful and it’s their way of expressing themselves to the settled community, and it’s a way of asking the settled community to come in and join us Travellers, that we’re not something to be feared of, like the stereotypes that come out on TV and the papers."
Traveller musicians had a vital role in the history of traditional music in Ireland and Trish Reilly spoke about how it has helped to lower barriers between the settled and travelling communities.
She said: "There’s contemporary bands and contemporary singers out there like Christy Moore, would be singing some of the songs that he would have got from my family, John Jack O’Reilly, doing a great job and Lankum is another up and coming band that have been highly influenced by Traveller music as well, so it’s great for solidarity between both communities."
The programme for this year’s festival features more than 40 free events across 22 counties, more details are available on social media and through Pavee Point and the Irish Traveller Movement.
