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‘EVERY ONE OF us judges others on first contact’. That’s the tagline of Foxy, a new play by Noelle Brown, and it’s a line that rings true for actor Michael Collins.
As a member of the Travelling community, he has seen first-hand how people can discriminate against him because of his identity.
For Collins – who many will know from his days as Johnny Connors in Glenroe – starring in Foxy is a way for him to bring the topics of identity and discrimination to a wide audience.
“He knows that the child is his”
Foxy was inspired by real-life events. It involves red-headed garda Ivan, lonely Doreen who has a shameful past, and Traveller Michael who finds himself pushed to the limits when it is assumed his child is not his own.
“The character I’m playing, [Michael], is the father and the father is in the house with the child and the guards come,” explained Collins. “He’s trying to get his head around what’s going on. He knows that the child is his.”
The play deals with prejudice against Travellers, as well as their relationship with the gardaí.
“It’s a very emotional play but also parts of it are quite funny,” said Collins, who feels like he’s made a connection with the character.
He is a very strong member of the Travelling community. He is proud of who he is and where he comes from. He would have had bad experiences with the guards or with people who would discriminate against Travellers. I went through that and sympathise.
Collins and his wife have brought up her nieces as well as their own children. “The youngest one is very, very blonde with blue eyes, so I could imagine someone coming and knocking at the door and saying ‘is that your child?’.”
Collins has written four plays himself, the most recent of which, Magpies on the Pylon, dealt with suicide in the Travelling community. There is an extraordinarily high rate of suicide amongst Travellers, and this was Collins’ way of taking a dark subject and exploring what it means to people.
After each show, he would meet people in the foyer who would tell him their own tragic stories.
“My nightmare is this tragedy is going to happen again”
Collins is a Traveller activist, and the recent deaths in Carrickmines are weighing heavy on his mind.
He fears another fire like Carrickmines could occur.
My nightmare is this tragedy is just waiting to happen again, because there are tonnes of sites around with naked wires, no panel walls blocking off mobile homes from each other.
While filming a recent project, Collins watched as a mobile home was set on fire – it took 6.5 mins to turn into an inferno. It further impressed on him the dangers that face people living in some halting sites.
The Carrickmines fire was “a terrible shock to the Traveller community”, but also to the settled community, he said.
“I think that people out around that area are traumatised and will be for a long time,” he said. “It’s great to see the settled people coming out in supporting the Travellers and great to see the politicians coming out on the radio from all different parties, and finally saying we need to do something about this.”
He believes Traveller accommodation needs to be taken out of the hands of local authorities. “Travellers are not a priority to government or to the local authorities,” he maintained.
He said there is no room in politics for people who get votes with an ‘anti-Traveller agenda’.
Collins did feel proud about the country’s reaction to the Carrickmines deaths – like the flag hung at half mast.
It made me feel very proud. It was the first time I’ve ever felt that we’ve been received as a community and almost felt like we were an ethnic minority grouping in [the eyes of the country].
But the reaction at Rockville Drive made him feel “that things were never going to change”. It is ”what you’re fighting against as member of the Traveller community”.
“I know it’s not all the local community there,” said Collins, who described himself as “heartbroken”.
He thought to himself:
Oh mother of sweet loving God, what sort of people would do something like that when there are people not even identified in the morgue? It brought me back to Ireland in the 70s, 80s, 90s… something else needs to be done.
He believes the settled and Traveller communities need to mix more, and from childhood. Collins notes how Ireland has become a multi-cultural society, but feels there has been no change in how Travellers have been accepted.
Of discrimination, he says: “We feel the brunt of that and we’re going ‘mother of God, how are we going to survive in this country?’ We all have children. All people want is to raise their children as good, honest, strong adults.”
All I want people to [say] is alright, OK, there’s Michael Collins out there, he lives up in that house, we know he’s a Traveller and we respect he’s a member of the Traveller community. That’s all I want: a little respect. Everyone deserves an opportunity. Everyone needs an opportunity to be accepted.
He is “completely” against bare knuckle fighting, describing it as “part of our [Traveller] society… it is an internal issue and an issue we need to resolve ourselves. It can’t be resolved by settled people.” He believes gardaí should arrest bare-knuckle fighters.
“A number of years ago, it was a way of dealing with Traveller feuds. Now it’s not like that anymore.”
Traveller pride
The parts of his life he is most proud of? His family, doing a show that gets a good response, “when the Irish flag goes up in the Olympics and there’s a Traveller standing there with a silver or gold medal”; “hearing that young Travellers are in the guards, are teachers, solicitors - all those things are a move forward”.
He believes in the importance of good role models, showing how there are Travellers with a variety of roles in Irish society.
As he prepares to explore discrimination yet again on stage, Collins sends his condolences to the families of the Carrickmines victims.
“I think these people will need the help and support of Travellers and settled people all over the country and will need time to deal with the situation themselves. May God give them all a bed in heaven.”
Foxy is on at the Project Arts Centre. Preview Tuesday 27 October, tickets: €10. Opening night: Wednesday 28 October. Until Saturday, 7 November, 8.15pm, tickets: €16/14. 2.30pm matinee on Saturday 7 November, tickets: €14/12
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I give everyone a chance, I’ve worked in retail for 25 years, in every place I worked and managed the same group would come in, I had no problem with them until they robbed some stock one day. I told them not to come back. I then managed another store and they came in again, I told them I’d give them another chance but if they robbed again that would be it. they robbed again. I then barred them from the next two places I managed, however another well known family came into every business I worked in, they were absolute ladies and to this day I’d trust them with anything. I still meet them and a few months ago they came into the store I owned at the time to ask if they could get some dresses sent to my home as they lived on a halting site and couldn’t get them delivered there. I said no problem. they rewarded me with sending their brothers out to clean the whole front of my house including gutterings and driveway. Unfortunately in my 43 years on this earth, this family is the only good experience I have had with travellers but it’s as simple as this, I respect anyone, no matter who they are as long as they respect me. I count these girls as my friends.
self sustainable – you are a decent citizen.
I don’t remember johny Connors, I remember Blackie
johnny was blackies brother.
How do you start to trust people who choose to steal, not work, not to pay tax and to spend €70,000 on a street fight!!
All de sympathy in the world for travellers the ones that work and contribute to the economy
Exactly. Travellers are human just like any of us, but when you see statistics like an over 80% unemployment rate, you have to seriously question the culture. Carrickmines was such a terrible tragedy, so it’s difficult to have the culture conversation centred around it.
I’ve worked as a labourer on building sites most since I left school. I actually like it. Gives me freedom to think.
I’ve only come across one traveller carrying blocks in 15 years.
And I’ve never encountered any obstruction legal or cultural to a man being a donkey for a day.
Michael Collins.I’m my opinion you should post regular features on this forum.The average citizen recoils from any mention of Pavee Point.Yet,travellers need a person to provoke conversation between them and non travellers…What do you say??
The focus is nearly always wrong. Discrimination this, discrimination that. It boils down to this really – Travellers need to be forced to send their children to school. Not a day here, a day there…one week on, one week off. According to an article in the Times in January 2015 http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/traveller-children-would-not-attend-mainstream-school-30933374.html
“‘The Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB) found the attitudes of Travellers in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, towards second-level education differed greatly from those in the settled community. It found the parents of Traveller boys in the town had little interest in sending them to secondary school once they had made their Confirmation. Instead, they were very keen for them to go into apprenticeships with their fathers and learn a trade. According to the education and training board, the parents also indicated that from the age of 12 or 13 a Traveller girl “will be preparing for her future, which is marriage”. It said: “If the girl is in school she is seen by a potential future husband as a child and this will put her at a disadvantage to other girls within the Traveller community. She will be perceived as being ‘too educated’ by her community.”‘
How does their community ever expect to get jobs etc if the are not educated to at least some standard? Do they want jobs? Because travelling the country selling pillows, socks, carpets etc is not really a great option when most people would really rather buy things from reputable establishments. If they want apprenticeships, I don’t really think their fathers can really help them there. The problem with Traveller activists and the likes of Pavee Point is they are always looking out to see who is causing the problem in Traveller communities, and it is never looking in. While I agree with Michael regarding a need to improve traveller accommodation, I would say that I’m not really sure what he means by ‘Traveller accommodation needs to be taken out of the hands of local authorities.’ So a different rule/law for some…? I’m sure homeless people and the 100,000 on the housing list would also like their accommodation “needs to be taken out of the hands of local authorities”.
Bingo i think what collins means is that local authorities are clearly ill-equiped with facilitating and maintaining appropriate traveller accommodation and have a proven record of failure in this regard. Possibly a reason being that anti-traveller politics tends to be rife within local authorities not because the travelling community are causing but because it gets local councellors elected
very well said , bingo . reading your comment is sad in many ways because its the parents that are letting their children down , they are stopping their education and girls as young as 16 and 17 should not be even thinking of getting married . this is one area that needs to be addressed , the parents should be made send their kids to school at least until their junior cert , the kids might have some chance then .
Richard…what exactly is “Traveller specific” accommodation?and who determines its suitability?
Richard Curtis, You are correct regarding local counsellors being elected because they will stop halting sites going ahead – I’m sure that happens, but local counsellors are also elected because they will save green areas for settled housing as well. I don’t think we can have a situation were the housing need of a particular community are looked after by some special body. Everybody on a local authority housing list has housing needs and I think the system is completely broken (for everybody) and that is a travesty.
Bingo. Fair play really great comment, summed up exactly the situation. Bang on.
Suzie Sunshine, It is very sad – their lives are carved out for them. It is not all travellers, some travellers of course encourage their children to go to school, but these are – by and large I would say – those who have become settled. But it really does have to stop. All children should go to school. I live in a DEIS area and I see young lads in particular 14/15/16 who don’t go to school and just hang around all day doing nothing, and it is ultimately their parents fault. And they are actually pretty nice lads, just misguided, bored, doing what their parents did. I think anyone leaving school early should be geared towards programmes that help place them in jobs or apprenticeships.
well researched and uncontested post Bingo.
bingo , its sad to think that these parents want the same life as they have had for their kids which also leads me to think that travellers are not willing to change and are pushing this way of life onto their kids , the parents are failing their kids . I agree with you about settled travellers sending them to school . I know of one traveller family fully integrated in our community and they are lovely , well mannered kids who attend school full time .
Cheers Pius!
Suzie Sunshine, I have met lots of Travellers who I liked. One of the best nights I ever had was stumbling into the Smithfield horse fair at about half 3 in the morning. They sold the higher priced horses at that time because it was quieter. And some of the lads had great wit, charm and were very interested in talking to us….precisely because we were settled people…and they didn’t often get that opportunity. I’ve had the odd negative experience too but I’ve always tried to treat them well and I hope others do to.
But there are problems in the community and there definitely is a reluctance on the part of the Traveller community to do what they can to help themselves. The culture of not sending their children to school is endemic in their community. It does have to change, and realistically, this can only happen if the state makes them do it. If it goes on, all that the future holds will be the same cry of ‘discrimination’ indefinitely….and the problems will still exist.
Where we live there is ‘Youthreach’ and it is up to members of the traveller community to take advantage of the training available.
The residents were 100% right. Nobody wants travellers living at the end of their street and its because of travellers, its that way. Good or bad ,the bad ones have the way travellers are viewed. Its a travellers problem not a settled community one to deal with
When we get an official cause to the fire we can start to plan the investigation into how to prevent accidents like this in future
The travelers live outside the rules of normal society. They do this by choice. They choose to not have their kids educated. They cheat, lie, scam, and prey upon law abiding citizens that pay taxes. Is it any wonder they are discriminated against? They are literally asking for it.
Fair play to him, it’s not easy to stand your ground on something like this. People need to actually listen to members of the Travelling community, and find out what they need to help improve education rates, employment prospects and to stop the scourge of suicide that’s harming so many young people, particularly men, in their community.
Cíara , do you think travellers want to improve their education and their employment prospects ? there is plenty of help out for travellers but do they really want it ? there is actually nothing stopping them from going to school , except maybe the parents of some children and there is also nothing physically stopping a traveller from getting a job either .
Yeah,a couple of years ago I heard there was 2 Traveller Gardai/Gardai Travellers in the Midlands….surely proof that there isn’t institutional prejudice in the state? I mean these individuals applied and were accepted…and I reckon they are decent Gardai.The key here is they made the 1st move.I wonder how other travellers take them?
Ciara, The issues you refer to can only be solved by a change in traveller culture, a stop to bullying by travellers of those who don’t conform to the traveller stereotype.
but they don’t really travel around anymore do they ?
Are they travellers Ciara? What’s the true definition of a traveller? Why would a traveller want a permanent place to live. Your either a traveller or your not. Is it time now to redefine the term traveller. If an Irish national lives abroad for more than 6 months and a day he is an ex-pat. So if a person wants to live in Ireland permanently and for free then does that just simply make them a scrounger?
I lived in Galway for a while I knew a lot of New Age travellers who wanted to live a similar nomadic lifestyle This was problematic for them.
Someone from the New Age traveller community purchased a small parcel of land near Kinvara and dedicated it as a halting site for any traveller passing through. Works very well.
‘Kitty’s Field’ it’s called.
He is the first member of the travelling community that I have heard that takes responsibility. They represent less than 1% of the population and a huge % of daily news mostly for negative reasons. Huge problems with suicide, obesity, life expectancy and crime. Even now they see education and housing as something not in their”culture”. Their problems will not go away without change !
Ciaran..I agree completely..perhaps that’s why those Traveller Gardai are anonymous… if they were Nigerian or Japanese there would be tv3 series about them! That’s why I say we need to hear the Traveller take on it…the real suss,not the “victim” crap of Pavee Point.Why can’t travellers drive taxis? Arctics? be Soldiers? work in Social care? MacDonalds?is it because of institutional prejudice?
Strong post Tommy..can’t argue with it…Michael Collins..how say You? as long as the debate vacuum persists between Traveller and non Traveller,so will the hostility and suspicion persist.The mainstream community are willing and able to debate….discuss…
all we hear about is what we can and should be doing to help the travelling community . while we keep hearing this , the travellers keep living and doing whatever they want . when are the travellers going to change their ways ? I don’t actually hear anything from them , saying that they want to be a part of society , that they are going to look after where they live , send their kids to school , go out and get themselves some work . what is it that they expect us to do for them when they are the ones who have the issues and the problems that they have created for themselves
I think Ciara that travellers need to do more…as I implied earlier,if they can become Gardai and Pavee Point spokespersons and actors…they can be whatever they want to be…the institutions of the state are not obstacles..
@Ciara. I think most people have a bit of fear of travelers for 2 reasons:
1 – They are different to settled folks (eg culture, language, attitudes & lifestyles). With any difference there is often a a lack of understanding of the other side. The bridge doesn’t exist to find common ground which I think Mr. Collins is referring to in the article when he mentions mixing more.
2 – The second fear is a perceived connection with crime. Rightly or wrongly there is a perception that where travelers are crime will not be too far away. This appears to be partly the reason why the blockade happened.
Ah ciara very cute come back when u grow up and move out of downtown abbey
@Pious. That wasn’t a TD’s joke you heard there, that was a recording of a Nazi party policy statement. How, in the name of decency, is that a joke?
tommy a reservation is not the way to go I moved to Ireland from Canada and grew up amongst first nations (you would call them red Indians) and reserves are not the way to go they are soul killers unless you have natural resources on or under them and that’s what I don’t understand about travellers ( and pardon my ignorance here) how are travellers classed as a ethnic minority as far as I can tell they are settled folk are from the same ethnic group first nations are different in look and culture so that’s easy but its hard to tell the difference between travellers and settled folk
I love how nearly everyone automatically assumes that it can’t be done, but I’ve seen it happen, from girls going on and getting their Leaving Certs, and then doing PLCs and college courses, to lads working hard and making something of their lives. There’s good and bad in every group, but Travellers get a harder time than any other group. After a tragedy a few years ago, the first people to lend a hand were Travellers from a nearby halting site, who came up with vans and trailers to take any of the damage straight to the dump. Why not give people a chance, you never know if they’re going to surprise you.
Ciara, you mention traveller suicide rates higher in men, I wonder why that is, I genuinely wonder are a number of those suicides a result of gay travellers who have to hide that fact, I just wonder. It’s not because of the settled community directly anyway, perhaps a lot of it is an indirect result of feeling outside society, but you can’t have it every way, you can’t expect not to feel the effects of staying on the periphery if that’s where you choose to be.
The “ethnic culture” called Travellers love feeling sorry for themselves while they rob people.
Doesn’t wash.
The Mafia in America once (1970) tried to declare themselves an “ethnic group”.
It didn’t wash with Americans.
Brendan , that goes back to the question , does the travelling community want to integrate ?
Michael..where do bare wires come from?? Really do you not think that the settled community are being discriminated against with the hocus pocus laws of this country?. Would you not think that a taxpaying man or woman would feel agreived with you comments?
So,there you have it,Michael Collins,you placed an ad in the journal in which you decried the treatment of travellers by buffers…..the buffers are calling for a discussion,debate,argument,conversation about the relationship between travellers and non travellers….its there in black and white,you read it,you ignored it.
If you replaced the word “traveller” with “black” in most conversations about travellers you’d easily assume that Ireland was a Deep South KKK stronghold.
If you replaced the world apples with Oranges you would be talking about two completely different things
Rev Al Sharpton. Thank God you’re here to lead us to the promised land.
Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord.
well said , Wayne !
They like to be called Travellers. So why change it, they are different to the settled people of Ireland and i don’t see why we should be PC, a lot of travellers or most cause trouble and thats a fact.
They enter your garden looking for something to rob they strip copper so why can’t we say that.
When drug addicts cause trouble they are named same difference.
Well done Stopit. I am shocked at the one-sided vitriole being spewed here. I too have had negative experiences with travellers and also very good experiences. But guess what, I have had really bad experiences with other Irish people and yet again great experiences. The word that is a common denominator here is “people”. And let us not forget that people died in this tragedy. Mud-slinging won’t solve the problems.
spot on , von .
@ Stopit. One rather glaring hole in your argument there. The black community in the deep south of the USA fought for integration, access to education, employment etc. The travelling community in Ireland does not appear to want any of these things but rather be allowed to live their lifestyle separate from the majority, while expecting the taxpayer to foot the bill and keep quiet about the ‘darker’ aspects of their culture. Particularly when these cultures collide.
For the sake of argument lets replace traveller with Syrian refugee in most conversations and added: wants to come to Ireland but refuses to live in standard accommodation, refuses to stay in education and employment. You can imagine where that chat would lead to.
Traveler threads on the journal have now become a magnet for hate.
A more positive approach is now needed after this terrible fire,
.
JohnAbbs – true,but I see no contribution from any travellers,not even Pavee Point….some travellers will have to grasp the nettle..things cannot continue..
joachin , I think travellers now should be taking a serious look at the way they live and their lifestyle choices especially in the wake of this tragedy . these opinion pieces seem to be very one sided .
You poor man !!
You are certainly right, however , about the Catholic thing. Which like most similar espousals are disingenuous. It is behaviour towards fellow man which tells all. Idols at entrances to halting sites are just that.
And yes they can read and write when they want to,.
they alienate themselves, johnabbs
naw you’re right Suzie..their victim mentality is too ingrained..and its not as if they can’t use modern IT to communicate..10 years ago I was amazed as two Sublics told me how they were buying a foal from Australia via the net!!!I thought your man Michael Collins..opinionated victim that he is,might defend or advance his folk instead of just slagging off the “settled” folk or “buffers,and country folk”…
spot on diarmuid
Diarmuid, You have summarized the problem perfectly. I am sick and tired of being told that our society discriminate against travelers. We are being pilloried by the traveller community for not doing enough for them, yet, they take , take, take and come back for more. They simply have no respect for the settled community and perhaps it is time to take the discrimination flag off them and give them a flag with responsibility on it. They are the problem and need to take ownership of their own problems before they can demand that the people of Ireland sort out their problems for them.
Was he froggie, blackies cousin? Or was johnny another cousin? I remember froggie had a scrambler motorbike, was there something between himself and fidelma?
Brother I meant to say, brother…
But would u employ them, give them a chance to show they too can be decent people? In fairness they are all tarred with the 1 brush. There’s a bad egg or more in every community but they are not rejected or discriminated against. Something should be done for intergration of the travelling community I dunno wat the answer is but I do no wat it’s like to be a minority
Why was my comment took down Aoife ?
You will survive in this country if the travellers that are robbing and thieving are reprimanded by the traveller community. If travellers want to be accepted in society they need to make a bigger effort to help themselves.
There is no doubt that Irish society has not done much for travelers (especially young travelers). But no more or less that other poor people. Are travelers any worse than the scobes we have to put up with on a regular basis. It’s a class thing, simple.
I have never heard the saying “May God give them all a bed in heaven”. It sums up how completely we feel about this terrible tragedy. We have a lot to learn from the “travelling community.✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
may god give them all a good bed in heaven is a very old saying amonst the travelling people x
Government should make it obligatory to stay in school until the leaving certificate, making allowances only for those who have secured an apprenticeship. This would improve the chances of many to secure work or to go on to further education. The department could set up a truancy monitoring group with no other purpose but to investigate absenteeism and follow up with fines. Hit in the pocket parents will sit up and take notice of their responsibility. we have an attitude here that it is pointless trying to get through to ‘these People’ but I feel we haven’t tried hard enough for long enough. Tough Love. These young people will have greater self esteem and a greater sense of equality, this would in turn affect there own parental skills and they would raise their own children to feel more positive and equal in this society, maybe then they won’t feel that crime is the only answer!
Travelers like he rest of us need to break away from Roman Catholic Tradition…
According to the Bible …”God has No mother”.
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made”.John 1:3
Statue worshiping is another part of the Roman Catholic Tradition rampant among the Travelling Community.
“Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image”
Tree stump worshipping.
“Green Acres is the place to be!”
Yeah maybe they could get jobs in banks, or become politicians, because these people are held in the highest esteem.
I have only ever had two or three bad encounters with travelling community members. And two or three stories from people i know.
I am very fortunate to have met and truly like the majority of travellers. One girl came into my place of work and was due to get married and move away down country. I had known her for some time from coming into my job,and she came to give me a hug to say goodbye. Then all the rest of them 7 of her friends who i also knew came and gave me a hug they weren’t moving lol. Then the husband to be said here i am jealous i want a hug to. So he got a hug.
I have loads of stories like this.
Woman shouting abuse at me in a car park for pointing out she was parked on a pedestrian crossing. Few minutes later as i walked away travelling woman came up to me and asked me was i ok and how she was watching carefully incase the abusive woman did anything to me so she could make sure nothing happened because i was a small woman lol Very sweet of her.
I have loads and loads of good things to say about the travelling community.
I have had more bad problems with settled non traveller community 99.9999999 more than travelling community.
im so happy to hear this karen and may it long continue, ita so nice to have people live you talk about a positive experience it makes up for all the negative. and the travellers really do look after the small people as small tings come in big parcels and therefore small people will bring you big luck xx
???????
Just so you know – by law all children are already legally obliged to be in school until the age of 16. The fact that this may not happen all the time with Traveller children is because it has not been a priority of the Government. And in the last 5 years there have been 85%cuts in supports to help Traveller children stay in school. Travellers are blocked in many different ways from participating fully in society.
If you want to show solidarity with Travellers and are for equality in our society sign this letter to the Taoiseach demanding urgent action – https://community.sumofus.org/petitions/carrickmines-tragedy-sign-our-letter-to-the-taoiseach-1
Michael what would your thoughts be on the matter of the Traveller community working in harmony with those around them, for example keeping halting site areas generally clear of rubbish and debris. So often we see halting sites pitched amid acres of mess, it is an eyesore, a danger to those around .. This is often what people object to, not the travellers themselves?
have your say