Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to read some of the terms of reference of the commission, even though it genuinely pains me to do so:

(1) to enquire into the problem arising from the presence in the country of itinerants in considerable numbers;

(2) to examine the economic, educational, health and social problems inherent in their way of life...

They also include the promotion of their "absorption into the general community". In 1964, a year after the report was published, the song, "The Travelling People", one of the first folk songs I ever learned, was written by Ewan MacColl. It is worth quoting:

I've known life hard and I've known life easy

And I've cursed the nights when winter winds were storming

But I've danced and sung through the whole night long

Watched the summer sun rise in the morning

We knew the woods and the resting places

And the small birds sang when winter time was over

Then I'd jog with my horse and dog

They were good old days for the rover.

May there be many more good and better days for the Traveller community.