Traveler Attempts to Make History

Rosaleen McDonagh was born with cerebral palsy, comes from a family of 20 in the west of Ireland and is a member of the country's most marginalized community, the travelers, so she has every right to be proud of her achievements.

She has been acclaimed as the first traveler to graduate from Trinity College, Dublin, although she is reluctant to make the claim herself. 'I wouldn't ever presume to say I was the first traveler at Trinity. Such has been and still is the racism towards travelers in Ireland that there may have been other people from my community who went to Trinity in the past, but might have hid their background,' she says.

But her place in history will be assured if she wins election next month to Seanad Eireann, Ireland's second chamber; the 28-year-old would become the first traveler to represent her community at a national level.

'If I'm elected for the Trinity constituency, it will send out a message that settled people in Ireland are making history too,' she says. 'It will say that they would be trusting of a traveler, even to the extent of one holding some influence in national politics.'

McDonagh contends that the travelers, Ireland's indigenous ethnic minority, suffer more discrimination and racism than the new immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa and China who have flocked to the Republic in their tens of thousands since its economic recovery.

'It's "acceptable" in pubs to tell "knacker" jokes [derogatory slang for a traveler], while, quite rightly, it is regarded as out of bounds to tell racist ones,' she says. 'Racism against travelers is still endemic in the Republic. Women in Irish society often complain about a glass ceiling in business and careers. Well, I can tell you that as a female traveler we aren't even able to look up and see that ceiling. We are locked on the outside looking in.'

As an advice worker on a project dealing with violence against women within traveler society, McDonagh is under no illusions about the internal problems facing her community. She is, however, angry that when travelers break the law their ethnicity is always stressed in news reports. 'The law is the law for everyone. No one, including travelers, should be above the law. But it is interesting that when travelers transgress, their background is always played up.'

The Seanad consists partly of nominees of the political parties based upon their strength in the Dail. But some seats are allocated to various mini-constituencies, such as the ancient academic Trinity constituency, where staff and graduates have the right to vote.

McDonagh stresses that, if elected, her main focus will be to give travelers a voice they never had before on a national parliamentary level. However, she adds that among her other concerns will be the reform of the Seanad. Ireland's foremost expert on racism and immigration in the Republic, Dr Bryan Fanning of University College, Dublin, says McDonagh's election could signal a symbolic shift in the way the Republic views travelers. He draws comparisons with the role Senator David Norris played in championing gay rights in Ireland using the Seanad chamber.

'David Norris brilliantly used what was up until then regarded as a talking shop for retired politicians to promote gay liberation. From the Eighties, Senator Norris introduced private members' bills in the Seanad that paved the way to decriminalize homosexuality and put gay people on an equal footing. I hope Rosaleen can do the same for the traveling community if she is elected.'