Ten members of the Connors family died as a result of a fire. This tragedy in Carrickmines has catapulted us, as a minority ethnic community, into a state of bewilderment. Ireland is sharing the distress and grief with the Connors family at their painful loss.
The next few days, weeks, months, and years, are going to be incredibly difficult for the remaining Connors family. It is the small gestures that are the most magnanimous. Our settled neighbours, friends, colleagues, and school children laying flowers and supporting the family remind us that our despair is shared and understood in a real way.
Replacing grief with analysis feels uneasy. While attempting to be sensitive and respectful, it is difficult not to separate the personal from the broader circumstances. Mourning and grieving are not static positions. Pain and confusion oscillate between reflection and the quest for explanation. Rituals are limited. They fill in the hours and the days but offer little by way of answers. Pacing the pain is impossible. Outbursts of tears followed by long collective silences are fragile. Expressions of grief come uncontrollably. Frequent surges of rage are over-whelmed with weariness and sadness. Long warm embraces of tenderness are where we find strength.
During this moment of grief, logic fails us.
The atmosphere of racism appears to have been defused by this heartbreaking event. The president and Taoiseach offered their sympathies. Flags, symbols of our nation, are to be flown at half-mast as a mark of respect. Books of condolences are being filled with words of comfort. Sport events held a moment of silence. Generosity is gathering momentum from unexpected areas and sections of Irish society.
Suddenly we are an intrinsic part of what it is to be Irish. For a moment, as a community, we feel we belong. Our entangled relationship with the settled community and the State regarding our ethnicity seems solidified. This spirit of acknowledgement and respect is too late for the ten Travellers who died while living in prefabs on a temporary site for seven years. Tragedy must not become a platform for government hypocrisy. A long history of exclusion by various Governments means that we have lived on the edge not only of towns and villages but also on the edge of budgets.
Cutting corners at the risk of fire safety is a huge concern when it comes to private builders, however local authorities can be accused of similar failings with regards to Traveller accommodation. When a building is found to be unsafe in the wider population, the media coverage and public response is audible, however we as Travellers live in unsafe conditions day in and day out. Traveller’s lives and safety would seem to be of less worth. Temporary accommodation has come to be a metaphor for never-never plans by local authorities.
Endemic and systemic poverty have been the expected way to live for Travellers over many generations. Intergenerational and historical exclusion brings difficult choices. Nomadism and culturally appropriate accommodation seem too much to ask for. Instead, we put up and we make do. Regardless of whether you live in Traveller specific accommodation or elsewhere, your Traveller ethnicity is part of who and what we are. Official methods of assimilation cause havoc with our young people’s lives. When our adult children can’t manage or are not emotionally or psychologically equipped to live in private rented accommodation, they become isolated and vulnerable. We welcome them back into limited living areas where we double up and share scarce amenities.
Budgets for Traveller specific accommodation are underspent, then reduced under the guise that they are not needed, while families continue to struggle and live in very dangerous conditions.
As a result of this desperate catastrophe, it’s time for the government to recognise and invest in safe accommodation to eradicate the risk of over crowding. Investment would be well spent in resourcing culturally appropriate accommodation. Above all do not use this tragedy as an excuse to further marginalise our community and our way of life by pushing us deeper and deeper into isolation in the private rented sector.
We, as a community, need more time and attention from the state in order to heal. The impetus should be about honouring our dead, respecting our living and recognising and protecting our way of life.
Rosaleen McDonagh is a playwright from the Traveller community