In 1971 Cher recorded “Gypsys, Tramps &
Thieves”. It proved to be a million seller and a major success for Cher. It was
essentially about a travelling family and their way of life. There was the
attendant odium attached to any section of society who was essentially nomadic
and earned a living by dubious means. If Cher were to record that song in
Ireland today, forty five years later, very little would have changed except
now the title would be more accurately entitled “Travellers, Knackers and
Robbers”.
Much
sympathy was expressed across all strands of society and the incident was
rightly regarded as a national tragedy meriting nationwide sympathy and
support. The depth of the feeling towards the victims and their families was
sincere and widespread, extending all the way to the Vatican, but the general
societal impression towards Travellers in general was yet to be truly tested.
In
the immediate wake of the tragedy an alternative site for the remaining
families became an urgent priority. Adjacent to the original site existed a
field at the distant end of a small local housing estate. The Local Authority
immediately identified this site as a temporary location for the halting site
and gave the local residents one day’s notice of their intention to accommodate
the Travellers at this location.
When
the Council workers arrived the next morning they found that the access to the ‘temporary’
site was blockaded by cars and other vehicles and their site preparation
machinery was blocked from entry. A major row broke out, mainly led by the
media, which labelled the local residents as heartless, bigots, discriminatory
and anti-traveller.
While
the local residents kept quiet lipped about their stance and doubted the bona
fides of the Local Authority it emerged that they had previously agreed to the
existing halting site on a temporary basis and came to realize that the short
term halting site was still in situ eight years later with no move by the
County Council to provide the previously promised permanent site elsewhere.
The Dept. of Justice, The Minister for the
Environment, Pavee Point and various other ‘civil liberties’ groups got
involved and expressed their outrage at the heartless stance of the local
residents. The residents kept their dignity, did not engage in a war of words,
resisted threats to take them to court and eventually prevailed. I take my
battered hat off to them! Two wrongs don’t make a right. The tragedy was
unspeakable but that could never justify the creation of what might have proven
to be an even bigger mistake. Travellers have a great gift of negotiation.
Either give them exactly what they want, on their terms, or you can fuck off.
If the local residents had yielded they would
have been on the receiving end of another ‘temporary little arrangement’
(Albert Reynolds and the PD’s) and they knew that. Travellers are hard to
trust, but local authorities can’t be trusted at all!
All of this reminds me of the saga of Padraig
Nally:
In 2004 Padraig Nally received a number of
visits from members of the travelling community. On one occasion the reason
cited was to enquire about the fishing in the area.(Not a river for 20 miles!).
Padraig farmed 46 acres and lived on his own. In the autumn of that year he was
visited once again by a member of the Ward family and his son in the afternoon.
Ward the senior threatened Padraig and twice engaged in hand to hand combat
with a man, many years his senior, but was unable to overpower the farmer
probably because the countryman was used to hard work while his opponent never
lifted a finger in his life except to ‘lift’. After refusing to leave and being
backed up by his son ‘tadpole’, Nally went to get his gun. His emergence with
his father’s gun still didn’t deter the raiders, so Nally fired a warning shot
followed by another to slow down his principal attacker. The second shot was
fatal and Nally was charged with murder; the first murder trial in Mayo for
almost a century.
In 2005 he was convicted of manslaughter and
sentenced to six years in jail. In a retrial in 2006 Padraig Nally was cleared
and released. During his incarceration Padraig received more than 10,000 cards
and letters of support. In a national
opinion poll which asked the question, “Should Padraig Nally be in jail”. 66%
of respondents said ‘No’.
In recent interviews Padraig Nally says his is
still fearful of reprisal and has no peace of mind. This
is the perverse contradiction that Nally's life has become. Many imagine what
they would do if confronted by a hardened criminal looking to harm them, their
family or their property. Padraig Nally is seen as someone who had the courage
of his conviction. But what has that left him with now? A restless mind plagued
with fear of reprisals and further break-ins?
On another occasion in November 21st 2013, seven
criminals based in Dublin broke into a house in Burnchurch, Co.Tipperary armed
with hatchets, guns and hammers and proceeded to beat the man of the house to a
pulp in front of his wife and young children. So severely was the man injured,
including the smashing of his eye socket that he will never work again. He was
self-employed.
The combined gang had 315 previous convictions
between them. One of the criminals Patrick Gately had 85 previous convictions.
Gately lost both his parents at an early age and was effectively raised by his
brother, the court heard. Many of his convictions were for road traffic
offences, along with 11 under the Misuse of Drugs Act, 10 for the unauthorised
taking of a vehicle, four for dangerous driving, and others for criminal
damage, assault, endangerment, theft, handling stolen property, and public
order offences.
He told Gardaí he was told to go down the country and collect a jeep in
part-payment of a drug debt. He was driven there by “a traveller known as
Scotch Paddy,” he said in a garda interview, and told them that cash found in
his sock after his arrest was from the sale of a piebald horse. With names like Joyce, McDonagh and
Flynn it is no mystery as to the backgrounds of these thugs. It is no secret
that Dublin Travellers use their country cousins to do the ‘casing’ for them,
advise of times of property vacancy and other information. These incidents and
multiple others like them are the reason why the travelling community is
dreaded and mistrusted by the vast majority of the population.
When I was a lad and “Old Shep” was a song sung
by Mike Keegan from Barry we had travellers stay within 100 yards of our house
every winter. We knew them and they knew us and there was no question of
discrimination. While we lived in a house that had physical foundations and
they lived in horse-drawn caravans and tents we were all the same. Their
freeborn spirits were to be envied in the summer and admired in the winter. If
they wanted a few spuds to boil in a black can over an open fire they would
work a half day for the farmer in return. They would fix your leaky buckets and
basins and were always polite in the extreme. We often went into their tents
for the ‘tay’ and were never afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of!
You wouldn’t feel very secure going into a
halting site nowadays. Ask any member of the Garda Siochana! These thugs never
work, rob and plunder all before them, give the fingers to law and order and
create havoc wherever they go. They claim to be an ethnic group who are
discriminated against. Is it any wonder?
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