Dr. Jim Mac Laughlin:

I have two very brief points on that. Our ignorance is our own fault but I am arguing that in the context of the way the 19th century nation got to exclude not just Travellers but the sons and daughters of the poor and the slum dwellers. A Nationalist discourse took a conscious decision to construct a nation in a particular way.

Another point worth making is that we are talking about ethnicity as if it has no link to place or economy. It is very clear that Travellers today, unlike those in the 19th century or even the 1940s or 1950s, have fewer economic roles in contemporary Ireland. That is unlike the past that we saw in rural Ireland, and my mother, who grew up in a rural environment, had clear memories of Traveller women coming into her house. My father remembered Traveller men coming through the area and working on the land, etc. We could see similar practices in places like Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic, where gypsies have a clear function in society. Since the 1990s and particularly now, Travellers are suffering from an economic depression that is pulling their community asunder. We must recognise the economics of ethnicity.