North Cork gets set for Traveller Pride events
Poignant commemoration of losses to suicide in Mallow forms part of the programme; "it's not just for the Traveller Community," North Cork activist Margarita O'Driscoll says.
A book reading in Charleville, photographic exhibitions in Fermoy and Mitchelstown, and a Tree of Hope planting for the suicide bereaved in Mallow: from this Friday, North Cork is set for a big programme of events celebrating Traveller culture.
The events are part of Traveller Pride week, which is taking place nationally and across Cork city and county.
North Cork Community Health Worker and Traveller activist Margarita O’Driscoll said the range of events taking place across the north of Cork county was huge and incorporated music, photographic exhibitions and a commemoration for families suffering a loss to suicide.
A “Tree of Hope” will be planted in Mallow on Tuesday, July 19 to remember those lost to suicide and their families.
The deaths by suicide of two under-16 Traveller children in June, including the death of a 12-year-old in Co Dublin, have rocked the Traveller community and increased calls for State assistance.
Travellers are 6 times more likely to commit suicide than settled people, with suicides accounting for 11% of all Traveller deaths, according to the All Ireland Traveller Health Study.
But Margarita O’Driscoll was keen to highlight that the Tree of Hope event was “not just for the Travelling Community, but for anyone who has been affected by suicide.”
“We’ve had an awful lot of media attention recently because it’s hitting home: an awful lot of Travellers are committing suicide,” Margarita told Tripe + Drisheen. “But it’s not just an issue for Travellers, it’s in the wider community too. So everyone is welcome.”
She said the discrimination Travellers face plays a large part in creating poor mental health conditions, starting from a young age.
“Travellers only make up 1% of the Irish population and we’re not a big community by, any means but we’re scattered everywhere,” she said. “There’s a lack of services for people with mental health issues. A lot of it starts in schools because a lot of teachers still look down their noses at Traveller children. It has happened recently here in local schools where books were taken off children and they were told, you’re only going to get married and have children.”
Traveller Pride Week is an important event to engage with wider society and combat the stigma and prejudice Travellers face, she said: “Traveller Pride is to make the public aware of what we’re actually suffering. People are stereotyping all the time. One Traveller does something wrong, and we’re all tarred with the same brush. We’re trying to make change as much as we can, for future Travellers growing up.”
Travellers still face huge challenges in housing, education, voter participation and wider societal recognition, she said, but the public visibility of figures like Dr Sindy Joyce, Senator Eileen Flynn and recently graduated journalists Martin Mongan and and Martin Warde were an enormous help in ensuring Traveller representation and acceptance in society was achieved.
The majority of the events taking place in Cork and nationally are celebrations of craft, music, art and culture.
Fermoy and Mitchelstown Library-goers can view a fascinating photographic social history of Travellers, from early photography right up to the present day, on Friday, July 15.
Elsewhere, in Cork city, a flag-raising ceremony will be held at City Hall on Monday, July 18, while Fitzgerald’s Park will be home to a Family Fun Day on Wednesday, July 20.
Cork Traveller Visibility Group, with UCC and APC Microbiome, will hold an event on research into the Traveller Microbiome in Council Chambers in Cork city on Thursday July 21 at 2pm.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the Travellers of North Cork Facebook page or Cork Traveller Visibility Group.