Kildare Co Council asked to hold 'special night' for Athy Travellers

Kildare Co Council has been asked to hold a special event to mark local Travellers being accepted as a distinct ethnic group within the state.

Last week Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced that the minority would have its unique heritage, culture and identity formally recognised.

It was a major victory after a long struggle on behalf of the country's estimated 36,000 Travellers.

Currently their unemployment rate stands at 84 per cent, while the suicide rate is six times the national average.

Athy 

Athy politician Cllr Thomas Redmond has now asked Council officials to celebrate the newly-declared status by holding a 'special night' for Athy Travellers in the Municipal District Building in the town.

The Sinn Fein representative will raise the issue at the next monthly meeting of Athy Municipal District on March 20.

Buswell's Hotel 

The public gallery of the Dáil and an overflow room were packed as members of the Traveller community watched the announcement in the Dail on March 1.

A large crowd of Travellers also gathered outside Leinster House but weren't allowed in due to lack of space.

Some later watched the proceedings on TV in Buswell's Hotel and nearby pubs.

400 years ago

Travellers were always thought to have originated during the Great Famine in the 19th Century but recent studies have confirmed they emerged as a distinct ethnic group up to 200 years earlier.

The group has official ethnic recognition in the UK, but Ireland was slow to adopt the process despite threatened legal action by the European Commission.