Press play to listen to a short interview with John O’Sullivan (pictured below), a development officer with the Traveller Visibility Group, about the importance of horses in Traveller culture.
While Travellers only make up 1% of Ireland’s population, there’s huge health differences with the general population. Infant mortality is higher amongst Travellers, Traveller women live on average 11.5 years less than women in the general population while Traveller men live on average 15 years less. Travellers are six times more likely to commit suicide than settled people, with suicides accounting for 11% of all Traveller deaths.
However, one thing that Professor Fergus Shanahan of UCC noticed over many years of practice was that Travellers were not presenting at his clinics with inflammatory diseases. Why?
Spurred on by his colleague Michael Molloy, Shanahan and a team of research scientists from APC Microbiome Ireland set out to investigate with the help of the Traveller community and in 2020 published their findings in the journal Nature.
What they found was that Irish Travellers have a unique microbiome that provides important defences for their gut health. Micriobiome is like a universe of organisms that live in and on our bodies, and it includes trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi. These vast colonies are hugely important for our health and digestion, but they also provide a biography of our way of life as Professor Shanahan outlined this week at Cork City Hall as part of Traveller Pride Week.
As he told the audience of elected officials, researchers, policy advocates and members of the Traveller community, the Traveller diet is no better or worse than that of the general population, and yet something is going on with their gut health.
One of the conclusions the study arrived at is that the proximity of horses to the Traveller way of life plays a part in their unique microbiome, which has more in common with ancient non-industrialised societies than with the general population in Ireland.
It matters because our modern microbiome is less well adapted to high fibre diets, and are associated with increased risk of chronic diseases and antibiotic resistance.
As Breda O’Donoghue told the audience at City Hall, Travellers have been subjected to many, many studies and reports that often go no where, but the microbiome investigation was a “good news story.” It also showed that their way of life is unique.
The next step now is to create a microbiome bank and also to dig deeper. As, Professor Shanahan asked: “Why are horses so important?” What’s behind the connection?
Travellers are one community that can help answer these questions.
You can watch a short video about the research carried out by APC into Traveller microbiome which is narrated by Breda O’Donoghue and was launched at yesterday’s event.
News in brief
Cashless banks: AIB announced this week that 70 of its banks across Ireland will go cashless as it ploughs ahead with its digitisation of everything, which is all well and good up to a point, and the point being what if you are an account holder who conducts business in cash and cheques? The bank, which was bailed out to the tune of €20.8 billion after the financial crash more than a decade ago and is 70% owned by the taxpayer, will remove cash, ATM, and cheque services from 12 Cork banks, but said it will compensate by offering some of these services in An Post post offices. Bear in mind though that An Post have closed around 180 post offices since 2018, and more closures will follow. A cynic might wonder where does this end? Staff-less banks? A branch-less bank? The reduced services at AIB banks will come into effect from September 30 and will affect branches in Cobh, Carrigaline, Bishopstown, Glanmire, Western Road, Castletownbere, Dunmanway, Kinsale, Mitchelstown, Youghal, Millstreet and Kanturk.
There will be a protest outside AIB on South Mall today at 2p.m.
Dog parking and twinning: The Echo reports that councillors in Carriagline are going to explore (emphasis mine) the possibility of a dog park in the suburb. Cork has one of the biggest dog populations in the country and there is support from dog owners for more dog parks, but building them to the right specs is important. Often, such explorations though tend to peter out, so we’ll wait to see what happens.
More promising or possible, is the news that a proposal to twin Carrigaline with Newport News, a city in Virginia in the US has been given a green light. Besides being a great name for a city, Newport News is the fourth largest city in the state and is the birthplace of the singer Ella Jane Fitzgerald. Carrigaline has plantation connections with Virginia which date back to the early 1600s when Daniel Gookin, an English Puritan, who settled in Carrigaline, but sold his lot to set up shop in Newport News, which was part of a growing colony at the same time as thousands of slaves were being shipped across the Atlantic from Africa. Dr Hiram Morgan of UCC has more on Carrigaline’s connections with Newport News, which will hopefully be fleshed out further than the oblique reference in The Echo report to the Carriagline men who “developed a large homestead on what is now Newport Newspoint.”
Planning watch: sayonara R&H Hall?
A decision is expected next week (July 28) on a massive redevelopment project which would transform the docks downstream of Kennedy Quay, just beyond City Hall, which could see the demolition of R&H Hall. The applicant is Leeside Quays Ltd. which was set up in 2019 and is a subsidiary of O’Callaghan Properties. The plans for the site include four buildings ranging from nine to 12 storeys, to be filled out with shops, apartments, offices and cafes.
The derelict Odlums building, which is protected, will not be demolished and earlier this year Cork City Council asked for further information about the plans. The Irish Examiner reported that planners at City Hall would like to see some elements of the silos retained “to acknowledge its significance and keep a strong sense of place.” That sense of place was erased when The Sextant, located nearby, was demolished in 2020. The site has remained vacant since. Details of the planning application are here.
Photo of the week
Out + About
🖼Re:Group, an international artist collective formed over Zoom during the pandemic, presents Fragments in Constellation, its first exhibition in Skibbereen opening this weekend. Eleven artists converged on the O’Driscoll building, an unoccupied structure at Levis Quay, for Skibbereen Arts Festival. The pieces are wide ranging, but the aim of the exhibition is to bridge the gap with the local community. More information about Skibbereen Arts Festival here.
Time, date, place: 12pm- 3pm, July 23 - August 1, O’Driscoll Building, Levis Quay, Skibbereen
🎶Sounds of summer: Musician and composer Jack Talty will beholding court with his concertina this Saturday in the Triskel as part of their summertime line up of concerts. Originally from Clare, Jack was appointed a lecturer in traditional music in 2021 at UCC. His programme will both showcase a number of recent original compositions as well as pay homage to repertoire associated with a number of pioneering pre-Revival musicians from the west Clare tradition. Tickets and more information here.
Time, date, place: 1pm, Saturday, July 23, Triskel Arts Centre, Grand Parade
🏳️🌈Cork Pride Festival: The focal point of Pride week will be the Cork Pride on Tour Parade which kicks off on Saturday in the city centre. You might have the crossing which was laid down on St Patrick’s Street this week to celebrate all things Pride. For the full list of events check out the website here.
Time, date, place: July 23-31 across the city and county
🥗Bubble and Squeak: Julie Forrester will be leading free drop-in animation sessioins in the Crawford Art Gallery which are open to adults and children (as long as they are with an adult). You’ll be invited to play with your food and create all sorts of wonders before putting it all together in a little movie. More information here
Time, date, place: Mon-Fri, 2pm - 4:45 pm, Sat 11am - 1 pm, Sun 11am -1pm and 2pm - 4 pm, July 17-24, Crawford Art Gallery
This week on T +D
On Monday, we published a short news piece on a council meeting with NTA representatives to discuss BusConnects. It also features a short audio interview with Niamh O’Flynn, a wildlife education officer, recorded in the Mangala in Douglas. Full story here.
On Thursday, JJ profiled Joe Healy who’s been quietly going around updating his Twitter account with photos of Cork in the 1980s. You can read that story here.
That’s it for this week’s Friday View. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact either of us at jj.odonoghue@gmail.com or emailellieobyrne@gmail.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch.
The Friday View 22/07