Workers Solidarity Movement

On Wednesday 8th of July several organisations from the Travelling community held a protest outside Dublin city hall for better housing conditions. Irish Travellers are a ethnic minority with an identity and culture, based on a nomadic tradition, who face severe discrimination and marginalisation in Ireland.

Last year Dublin City Council said they would provide 118 units accommodation for Travellers, so far DCC has provide just one unit. This was not because DCC have no founding, the funding was available but yet DCC failed to come across with what they promised.

The state bureaucracy has committed to deliver accommodation for 120 Traveller families from 2014 to 2018. The bureaucracy has allocated 366,299 euros last month. This is meager funding and could not possibly house 119 families. Once again the state and DCC has proven to fail to meet the needs of the Travelling community, showing their utter lack of humanity and decency to the people they are supposedly meant to represent.

The accommodation Travellers have to live in is utterly horrific conditions, their accommodation plays a major role in Travellers having health problems.

Here are a few of the health problems Travellers suffer from:
- Life expectancy at birth for male Travellers is 15.1% years less than the general population.
- Life expectancy at birth for female Travellers is now 70.1% which is 11.5 years less than women in the general population.
p Traveller infant mortality is estimate at 14.1 per 1,000 live births (compared with the general population rate of 3.9).
- Travellers have a greater burden of chronic diseases than the general population.
- Suicide rates are nearly 7 times higher in Traveller men compared with the general male population.
- Suicide accounts for 11% of all Traveller deaths.
The Traveller community groups which were present at the protest include, Ballyfermot Travellers action Project, Clondakin Travellers Development Group, Finglas Traveller development Group, St Margarets Travellers Association and TRAVACT Coolock.
These groups want to meet with Minister Alan Kelly to secure an immediate increase of the Traveller accommodation.