I wouldn’t mind at all.

Talk is cheap. Call people racist all you want, I’ve had a lot of first hand dealings with them and they use this racism card all the time. Wanting them to abide by the same laws as everyone else dosent make me racist. Not wanting to pick up shitty nappies off my lawn dosent make me racist. Reading with contempt the names and addresses of people caught burgling etc etc …

@joost bos….give your name and address to your local council that you are more than willing!!
See how you feel after a few months… While you are working your ass off to pay rent/mortgage/bills/tax etc….they are hanging around all day, arguing all night so you can’t sleep, polluting the area with rubbish, having about 10 brand new vans around so you can’t park, intimidating you and friends who visit…

are

Oh really now Henry? I’m fairly sure labelling an entire ethnic group as criminals and degenerates counts as racist.

Good point. I suppose a traveller family may have a number of houses between them meaning they can move between each as they please which is kind of nomadic.

They have commented on how they don’t like the whole horse racing on public roads, but yet its extremely widespread so their views don’t represent those of the community they claim to represent.

Atleast once a week I see underage kids with horses on public roads, very dangerous public roads for that matter.

I don’t think I have ever heard of them giving out about the breaking into private property side of things, or the massive amount of littering and illegal outdoor rubbish burning that many travelers do.

Once again, if they ever have commented it certainly does not represent the vast majority of travelers that they claim to present.

In my view Pavee are a very select bunch, they will complain till the cows come home about a TD or anyone else and will say how it gives them a bad name but yet they won’t deal with the underlying massive issues that undermine their own community on a daily basis!.

Waste of space organisation

Very well said

PP seem to be very quick to demand ‘rights’. It is just a shame they are not as quick to demand ‘responsibilities’ too.

When you sight TV3 bullshit as evidence you are already losing.

Oisin generally I would agree on the tv3 point especially since they were responsible for that muck piece of journalism “the truth about travellers”.the truth is people could fill every page in the journal with stories of illegal dumping , antisocial behaviour the list is endless , that is the truth and the vast majority know it, but if you disagree , send a note to your local cc and welcome the travellers to your neighbourhood

I think all the likes tensing is getting just shows how Ireland feels towards travellers and pp in general

At the end of the day Hogan just proved once again how unfit for Government he really is. That man interferes with my good natured,level headedness like no one else on this Island.

Nobody here has an issue with people who Can’t work. It’s the ones who Won’t work we are complaining about.

Gis don’t you know that society owes them a debt but apparently they owe society nothing unless there contribution is bare knuckle fighting, littering etc..

I wonder could hogan use his super powers the other way? for all those people trapped in huge negative equity trying to move / trade to a bigger home. He could write to interested buyers and discreetly threaten them to buy. He’d never run out if work that’s for sure.

Best comment! I recall a traveller telling me that earning money on the black market and not paying tax was part of their culture!!!!
Or when the free bus for traveller children to take them from their homes to school was cancelled all the parents stopped sending their children to school…dispite that each family owned a vechicle…because they felt they were entitled to free transport!!!!
I think of all the families who cannot afford cars, and are going without to pay for annual fee for the school bus

Same with the poor…. if they expect to be treated equally they should be more distinctly average and earn the average industrial wage and pay average taxes and just be more…….um…..average…. yeah, the poor should pay more money to be treated as equals.

thats a fairly stupid comment Tomy are you trying to say sll travellers are poor or do you just like making stupid ststements

What I’m saying is simply that most distinct groups for which there is a distrust/hatred for throughout history is pretty much kept “in their place” by that hatred and distrust.

I’m not saying that all travelers are innocent, I am saying that the kind of comments I see here are generalisations which are dangerous.

No, they didn’t have a bad reputation actually.

Hogan should resign.

Resign? No way! He has balls to say no

fair play to him for standing up to them

And I’m sure you know yourself that inappropriate behaviour is not just confined to one section of the community.
This whole debacle seems to me another divide the people tactic, while we’re fighting amongst ourselves they line their pockets and cede even more power to Europe.

Don’t forget that there are people everywhere from every background that engage in antisocial behaviour, who are quicker to cite their rights over their responsibilities.

The fact of the matter is, regardless of what you think of the traveller community, Hogan was poking his nose where it didn’t belong which resulted in a family losing a house they waited years for and what’s worse is they have a section of the public against them because they can’t look beyond their own prejudices to see the family as they are.

Hogan should have more sense but then again thinks he can get away with anything.

We’re going to have to kick Big Phil out i think – he’s definitiely not leaving on his own

Petr, good man with 250 red thumbs!

Travellers cheques?

Does it really need to be explained , really , you don’t get it ?. You don’t even understand that it’s not rights “versus ” responsibilities , it’s : implicit in all rights are responsibilities , if you have no job or no income and you depend on the state To survive ” your right” your implicit responsibility is to stop having kids until You can extricate yourself from that situation . You other point is also moot , it’s the disproportionate amount of people within a relatively small community that engage in anti social behaviour that is unique here, these are facts, you may argue they are discriminated against in education and work but how can you offer a standard education to some who lived a nomadic lifestyle , maybe we should pay for personal tutors to travel with them . Hope this makes sense

Well said. Irish people were well able to stand up for the civil rights of African Americans in the 60′s, and for Coloured rights in South Africa during apartheid. Yet it seems perfectly acceptable to discriminate against travellers here, the “sure they’re all the same” argument. Lazy generalisation of a diverse ethic group.

Lannister , your ignorant to compare the two and you are the one that rolls out the lazy emotive racist card . The former was prejudice based on the colour of skin which i deplore but the issue here is around the actions and total lack of social responsibility by
significant number of a community that is itself racist or could you point to many inter racial traveller marriages? I don’t know but I’m will to bet there isn’t one in the entire country ‘course you wont have a clue probably to busy half studying social issues

A significant

Lannister , your ignorant to compare the two and you are the one that rolls out the lazy emotive racist card . The former was prejudice based on the colour of skin which i deplore but the issue here is around the actions and total lack of social responsibility by
significant number of a community that is itself known to have racist and sexist or could you point to many inter racial traveller marriages? I don’t know but I’m willing to bet there isn’t one in the entire country ‘course you wont have a clue ,your probably to busy half studying social issues

A significant

@lannister…cannot compare civil rights in the 60s to travellers? These people fought for equality in opportunities in life.
Travellers have been given plenty of opportunities and positive discrimination and rarely act upon them. Children were encouraged to get educated, to suit their way of life, many halting sites were provided with on site teachers-with parents choosing not to send children.
The community employment scheme is open to people out of work who are aged over 25…travellers are exempted and can take a ce place at 18 years of age…and guess what…they don’t take it up!!
Extra grants, scholarships etc have been made available to travellers to take up 3rd level education…not taken up

@Tensing Norgay

“Hope this makes sense”… no, it doesn’t make sense to me even if you like to think of your opinions as facts.

From where i am standing all humas should be treated equally and the idea of collective punishment or discrimination of any group or community is a despicable act of bigotry.

Well said, Simon. Change ‘Travellers’ for ‘Jews’ and we’re back in 1930s Germany.

Mother of god petr

Jews didn’t go around threatening people. I have a Jewish friend, nice guy, he doesn’t go around with bundles of illegally earned untaxed fifties in his pockets either. Nor does he own an abused horse, or a 12 reg uninsured transit with false plates.

Simon and Petr, you’re a disgrace to compare the two and its amazing journal allows these misinformed doing gooders essentially call me a racist , I judge on actions and if either of you two baffons lived near a halting site you would know . Stop embarrassing yourselves with cheap stupid comments , tell me for example how a bigoted society is that allowed hundreds of travellers engaged in open conflict with deadly weapons last year get away with not one of them doing one day in jail (64 went to court). How many times have seen all manner of rubbish left on the side of the road , no conviction , so clean it up and get on with it . If the law was actually applied as it should ….,,

@Tensing Norgay

i didn’t call you racist, i said I judge people as individuals equally by their actions and I don’t collectively punish or discriminate against an entire community (or group of people) on the basis of the actions of other individuals in that community or group.

I’m not here to try and convince you to like travellers, you can hate whoever you want.

Petr, please don’t compare the Jewish experience in nazi Germany and the traveller community in Ireland. You have made a stupid comment! One of many and once again you are generating a huge amount of red thumbs. Your arguments are deeply flawed.

Petr and Simon ye are both an embarrassment.

declan – you have a serious problem if you think the number of red thumbs has any bearing on how right or wrong an argument is.

It’s really simple, you either treat/judge people equally or you don’t.

If you don’t treat/judge people equally and collectively discriminate against an entire community you just need to be mature enough to recognise what you are doing.

It is perfectly logical and legitimate to ask if you do discriminate against travellers as a whole community of people what other communities of people do you discriminate against.

Simon, let’s get something straight here. When I was growing up travellers used to come to our house and my mother would give clothes to the little children and I can remember my mother sitting two of them down on our front porch and feeding them dinner on a number of occasions. Personally I would like a better life for them.

Wow ! Just puts things in perspective, how can less than 1% of the population generate so much venom ? Even their representative body Pavee Point funded by us manages to get decent people’s blood boiling by it’s selective statements ! The mere mention of Travellers fills the Journal regularly and no one has the balls to address the issue at a political level. Open your mouth and you are a Racist.

@tomy…have yet to meet a “poor” traveller!!
Those you mentioned are marginalised…they have to pay for all the electricity and gas bills, pay for rent, household charges etc out of their payments
While travellers pay none of the above and receive welfare payments on top of their earnings out of black market

How ironic that you should list so many groups that the travelling community despise, oh sorry you’re playing the sarcasm game. Yes travellers are big supporters of equal rights for women , they are never embarrassed to have disabled children (makes the look weak apparently) they embrace homosexuals infact im
Expecting a hiace float in next years pride festival ,masculinity is defined by ability to provide for your family and contribute to your community or is that the ability to bare knuckle batter your cousin in honour of you surname. Education is a key part of culture to improve the lives of their children. But you right those disabled guys and their illegal dumping and mass brawls always robbing metal for their wheelchairs . Let me be clear for you cause I see you don’t take things in very well, people are sick of the ACTION of far to many people amongst this community . Society is a two way thing for the rest of us .

Holden

Tensing, I’m simply pointing out that many groups of people have prejudices held against them. The tone of the comments here is to lump all in together and make generalisations.

I absolutely believe that far too much illegal activity is put down to being a part of Traveler culture and that any member of any community within the borders of our country should be subject to the laws of our country.

The comments here are pretty much all generalisations – my post hoped to prompt something of a response that would recognise that and at least see if there are some who may actually realise that not all travelers deserve to be regarded in the pretty much uniformly negative way that they have been here.

What very much confuses me is how many posts here seem to basically say that it’s okay to hold prejudice against those who are prejudiced.

in the boom years there was plenty of work for them yet over 90% of able bodied traveler men were still claiming the dole.

in the boom years there was plenty of work for them and they wouldn’t take the taxable jobs. they will only work for cash.

They will only work for cash and I all my employees have to pay tax. They wouldn’t take a taxable job if I offered one.

Local community employment schemes are open to travellers, very little take up from travellers…even in the schemes that were the jobs were based in traveller resource centres etc!!

Kate all the comments were about travellers because that’s what the article was about. What did you expect posts about the Easter Bunny.

Drive down to any halting site you want to Martin & you’ll see all the proof you need.

What planet are you living on?

Are you actually serious?? Really?? How many times have you seen young ponies being beaten while pulling a Sulky and it’s cargo of travellers? The majority of people use a new invention, well actually they’re around a while now……..they’re called cars. But the awkward part is you actually have to tax and insure a car, maybe that’s why the pony gets whipped……

in our estate of 150 houses 3 are travellers. That is 2% of its population. BUT they are responsibly for the majority of anti social instances.

yes

Mike I would click that 20 times if I could. Just 1 traveller family seriously affected the estate of 60+ houses in which a friend of mine lives.