I've watched some of the coverage on Sky news today and I find this whole saga so annoying. The Travellers have been joined by a large group of activists for "human rights" - a number of these activists have been interviewed and they are saying that the Travellers have "rights" and that they have been there ten years and so it is not right to move them. What nonsense! What sort of precedent would it set if the Travellers are allowed to stay there? And I've seen Traveller women interviewed who are refusing to leave and saying they are "doing it for the children" - that's it, no more sky news for me.
Dale Farm - eviction of Travellers
- Thread starter DeeFox
- Start date
I'll never eat Dale Farm ice cream again!
joking aside, I understand most of these "travellers" are English born and presumably live off the DHSS. I don't appreciate them being described as Irish, one English resident said they should go back to their houses in Ireland,bloody cheek.
joking aside, I understand most of these "travellers" are English born and presumably live off the DHSS. I don't appreciate them being described as Irish, one English resident said they should go back to their houses in Ireland,bloody cheek.
They are described as "irish" because they are Irish Travellers, which is an officially recognised ethnic group in Ireland, the UK and beyond. This does not mean that were born or have ever lived in Ireland, and it is ignorant for people to say that they should go 'home' to Ireland. Their home is where ever they choose to live. Its a pity SKY News dont address this point, before letting ignorant people get in front of a camera and begin painting them all with the same brush.
This comes as a result of several stories in UK newspapers which allege/assert that many of the travellers do indeed own homes in Ireland - in Rathkeel, Co. Limerick - specifically that they own most/all of an unfinished ghost estate there.
I did notice that most of the Travellers who were interviewed had strong irish accents.
Are you sure about this? I thought they had been campaigning on this for years but it was never granted.
Yes I'm sure. They have been recognised by some Government offices and included fully into the recent Census in both countries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12914877
[broken link removed]
However the Irish Government has yet to fully incorporate the [broken link removed] into Irish law meaning they are officially in limbo, recognised by some parts of the Government, and not by others.
Irish travellers have a distinct status in the UK as an ethnic group. Not so in Ireland. As they are an ethnic group it gives them more rights. There are rights and wrongs in all of this.
Travellers wish to move about, a bit, in this case it seems these travellers want to live in Dale Farm but half of them do not have planning permission, so what they are doing is illegal. But the UK councils have a duty to offer them halting sites. The UK councils fail in this as local residents have NIMBY, a concept familar to Irish communities.
There is a halting site next to where I had a home, it was always well kept, small, and not a bit of bother, you wouldn't even know it was there. I know a council worker who worked on it and he told me that if you put in a light bulb or wiring they would rip it out to sell or whatever. This is part of their bad reputation.
Some travellers have a bad reputation, but not all of them are bad. The really nasty one's I've heard of are those that patrol rural Ireland for elderly victims. I presume the reputation for leaving a site in a dreadful state is true but cannot be proved.
About a month ago at a petrol station here on the continent I met an Irish traveller from Rathkeale, he needed to put petrol in his car but he told me he had no credit card and asked did I speak English, he was holding a 50 note and debating with himself if he would speak to me and trying to decide on 50 or 20, he settled for the 20 so I finished filling my car, asked him for the 20 and filled his car making sure it was 20 (20.02 to be precise) He realised I was Irish and wondered had I heard of Rathkeale ! He was very pleasant and as is there way, as we chatted he asked me did I need any work done on the house (roofs and paving he mentioned) which I politely declined. Not sure why I'm telling this story but there you go.
Travellers are discriminated against, badly educated and have a short life span, they often live in deplorable conditions. Settled people find it hard to understand why they want to live in caravans if offering housing but that is to not understand their way of life. As a child I remember in Irish pubs printed signs saying no travellers. I always found that sign fascinating.
In relation to Dale Farm it is surprising that some/a lot of them have homes in Rathkeale and return there once or twice a year (xmas/funerals). If these houses are council owned then I think they should not be allowed have unused homes that other needy people could have, but I'm not a native of Rathkeale, and maybe settled people there would refuse to live where the travellers lived. Presumably Limerick County Council are looking into this and can identify people from TV and newspapers.
One thing I wondered about is why are they in the UK. Presumably as it's a larger population there, there would be a lot of work on houses or whatever so they can earn a living.
Travellers wish to move about, a bit, in this case it seems these travellers want to live in Dale Farm but half of them do not have planning permission, so what they are doing is illegal. But the UK councils have a duty to offer them halting sites. The UK councils fail in this as local residents have NIMBY, a concept familar to Irish communities.
There is a halting site next to where I had a home, it was always well kept, small, and not a bit of bother, you wouldn't even know it was there. I know a council worker who worked on it and he told me that if you put in a light bulb or wiring they would rip it out to sell or whatever. This is part of their bad reputation.
Some travellers have a bad reputation, but not all of them are bad. The really nasty one's I've heard of are those that patrol rural Ireland for elderly victims. I presume the reputation for leaving a site in a dreadful state is true but cannot be proved.
About a month ago at a petrol station here on the continent I met an Irish traveller from Rathkeale, he needed to put petrol in his car but he told me he had no credit card and asked did I speak English, he was holding a 50 note and debating with himself if he would speak to me and trying to decide on 50 or 20, he settled for the 20 so I finished filling my car, asked him for the 20 and filled his car making sure it was 20 (20.02 to be precise) He realised I was Irish and wondered had I heard of Rathkeale ! He was very pleasant and as is there way, as we chatted he asked me did I need any work done on the house (roofs and paving he mentioned) which I politely declined. Not sure why I'm telling this story but there you go.
Travellers are discriminated against, badly educated and have a short life span, they often live in deplorable conditions. Settled people find it hard to understand why they want to live in caravans if offering housing but that is to not understand their way of life. As a child I remember in Irish pubs printed signs saying no travellers. I always found that sign fascinating.
In relation to Dale Farm it is surprising that some/a lot of them have homes in Rathkeale and return there once or twice a year (xmas/funerals). If these houses are council owned then I think they should not be allowed have unused homes that other needy people could have, but I'm not a native of Rathkeale, and maybe settled people there would refuse to live where the travellers lived. Presumably Limerick County Council are looking into this and can identify people from TV and newspapers.
One thing I wondered about is why are they in the UK. Presumably as it's a larger population there, there would be a lot of work on houses or whatever so they can earn a living.
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I caught the tail-end of a doc on C4 about Dale Farm & Travellers last night. The cost to the British taxpayer of all of this is horrendous. The reported demand of the travellers for £6 million for land worth £100K + reminds me of similar stories reported here of traveller 's effectively being bought off.
Curiously Travellers win about 90% of court cases because councils don't make proper provision for them in providing usable sites. This law will be changed by Parliament soon, and such cases will be less likely to succeed. But that's hardly going to make the problem go away.
As Bronte says there's two sides to this, but I'm struck by how demands for respect of Travellers rights doesn't seem to be matched by Travellers equal respect for the rights and the money of the settled communities. Clearly Travellers have the money to buy land, there must be some way to allow them to do this legally without illegally impinging on locals.
Curiously Travellers win about 90% of court cases because councils don't make proper provision for them in providing usable sites. This law will be changed by Parliament soon, and such cases will be less likely to succeed. But that's hardly going to make the problem go away.
As Bronte says there's two sides to this, but I'm struck by how demands for respect of Travellers rights doesn't seem to be matched by Travellers equal respect for the rights and the money of the settled communities. Clearly Travellers have the money to buy land, there must be some way to allow them to do this legally without illegally impinging on locals.
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"Go back to Ireland" scream the comments on newspaper websites
For English children born in England.
And they had a spokewomen on Pat Kenny a few weeks ago and the majority hold UK passports.
Do you need to live in England for ten generations before they call you English
I did see the post about their group called Irish Traveller.
For English children born in England.
And they had a spokewomen on Pat Kenny a few weeks ago and the majority hold UK passports.
Do you need to live in England for ten generations before they call you English
I did see the post about their group called Irish Traveller.
DrMoriarty
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If you don't stop talking about "Rathkeel" you'll be struck down by Our Lady of the Concentric Growth Rings.
If you don't stop talking about "Rathkeel" you'll be struck down by Our Lady of the Concentric Growth Rings.
Stop making fun of peoples deeply held foolish beliefs.
Not sure of the relevance of this, plenty Irish people hold UK passports and plenty more could if their parents applied first.
To all intents and purposes Irish people with or without UK passports are treated with the same rules and regulations as apply to those born in the 'mainland.'
I've been, there's an estate in the town of very nice houses, mostly with the windows barred up and at certain times of the year (Christmas for example), driveways full of caravans, jeeps and Hiaces.
and Porsche's, €180k Mercs, Range Rovers, and top of the range VW SUV's. Sure if you have a bit of money, you may as well drive a decent car.