Ms Brigid Quilligan:

We are a group that is indigenous to Ireland. We believe there is a record of Irish Travellers in the island of Ireland as far back as the fifth century. There is a fallacy that we were a by-product of the Famine, but we strongly dispute this. We know, for example, that Travellers emigrated to Murphy Village in America prior to the Famine. I did not bring them with me but there are different references to Travellers throughout the past. We are a nomadic people, mainly working in tin smithing and known as tinkers. Some of us are musicians, bards and storytellers. There are people in the gallery who are far more experienced at telling our history than I am, so I apologise to those people. I do not know if the Chairman wishes to invite them to speak.