FOR GENERATIONS Travellers have been self-employed, and those at a Traveller entrepreneurship conference in Mount Merrion, Co Dublin, yesterday believe that could hold some answers for those struggling in the current economy.
The conference held by the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board was a part of an initiative to encourage enterprise within the Traveller community.
Attendees included Selina O’Leary, the first Traveller to sing at Carnegie Hall and who is now looking to get into the music business, as well as business owners and Traveller activists.
The programme started in September in an effort to reach out to members of the 11 Traveller sites within the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area. It runs through December.
“It’s hard to access the Traveller community,” said Cllr Lettie McCarthy, a member of the county enterprise board who attended the conference. “We need to break down barriers on both sides.”
Bridget Kelly, a business owner and Traveller from Galway, said when her husband first suggested starting a business, she was filled with fear – fear of losing economic security from social welfare and fear of being judged as a Traveller. She worried that customers would not be interested in her goods because of her background.
Ms Kelly found, however, that this was not the case. “People weren’t coming in judging me as a Traveller. They were coming in because we offered competitive prices and good customer service,” she said.
Despite fears of discrimination and educational disadvantages, enterprise is in Traveller blood, said Martin Collins, co-director of Traveller human rights group Pavee Point. “We’ve had to have that to survive. That’s the context we found ourselves in,” he said.