Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When I talk about apartheid, I am talking about how settled communities separate themselves from Travellers. In other words, and to go back on the figures I gave, settled people do not want Travellers living next door, marrying into their families and so on. That is what apartheid is. It is the settled people who manifest apartheid because they do not want friendships and so on with Travellers. It is a manifestation and outworking of racism because racism leads to that kind of apartheid.

It was the heading of a chapter in Fr. Mícheál Mac Gréil's big book, Pluralism and Diversity in Ireland. When we read the results, it is interesting to note that Fr. Mac Gréil's was not far from the truth. He titled the chapter, The Travelling People — Ireland's Apartheid. He meant the shame was on the settled community for the apartheid that it operates in a subtle way against Travellers. Does that explain it?