Sir, – On your Front page (April 19th) you describe the trial of five people in Luton as “Traveller family on forced labour charges”. The very substantial article goes on to refer repeatedly to the ethnicity of the accused. This was very wrong.
You would not have reported “Pakistani family or black family or Jewish family on forced labour charges.” The ethnicity of the accused was irrelevant to the piece and betrays a residual casual racism towards Traveller people. My firm undertakes a great deal of pro bono work for, and on behalf, of the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain, who are the leading representative group for Irish Travellers in Britain. We continue to be shocked at the level of daily discrimination and abuse faced by Irish Travellers. The print media in the UK continues to casually portray Irish Travellers as unwelcome, sponging, caricature criminals. Travellers are just people; more importantly people of Irish origin. We would look to The Irish Times to lead the way in treating them and reporting on members of that Irish community fairly and normally.
The Luton trial reported in your paper is important and worthy of comment.
I ask that The Irish Times take a lead in fair reporting, particularly of such a disadvantaged group as Irish Travellers. If people are charged with crimes, report it, but leave their ethnicity out of it unless there is some valid reason for bringing it into the equation. – Yours, etc,
Editors Note: The accused are described as Irish Travellers in court documentation and were again described as such during the presentation of the prosecutions opening statement by counsel.