A group representing Travellers has called for mandatory anti-racism training for judges after a judge at Athlone District Court described Travellers as “Neanderthal men”.
Vice-chairwoman of lobby group Minceirs Whiden, Bridget Casey, said Judge Seamus Hughes’s comments were “outrageous” and “bordering on incitement to hatred”.
Judge Hughes made the comments two weeks ago in the case of Martin Stokes (21), a Traveller who he convicted of threatening last May to burn down a neighbour’s house.
“Threatening to burn someone out of their house when you live only four doors away, I suspect Mr Stokes comes from a certain ethnic background which would give him more form and add to the level of threat, given the type of behaviour that some of them engage in. Neanderthal men lying in the long grass and living by the law of the jungle is how I’d describe them,” he said.
Travellers’ rights group Pavee Point earlier this week called for Judge Hughes to resign.
