Dale Farm - eviction of Travellers

Bronte said:

Not sure if I've been to Rathkeale, has anyone here? And what is it like?

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Rathkeale in Co Limerick, which has become well-known as the "Traveller capital of Ireland".
Forty-five per cent of the town's population now class themselves as Travellers. The Rathkeale Travellers are a wealthy trading group whose business interests extend across Europe.
The same surnames come up time and time again when Travellers across Ireland, Britain and northern Europe hit the headlines.
The "millionaires" run a sophisticated business network. Their main trade is in furniture imported from eastern Europe, though they also sell tools, generators and antiques. They set up temporary depots wherever they make their camp and delivery lorries follow them around

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The above was taken from an article in the Irish Independent in June 2004

Where do they sell the furniture, generations/tools and antiques. Would that be in the UK market generally and hence the reason for the relocation to the UK.

Ronan, I know and have seen travellers drive big vehicles (generally Ford transit vans, sorry for the stereotype. ) but really 180K on a car?

As a settled person, cannot understand how they prefer to live in camps such as Dale farm, especially as they have so much money. But that's my prejudice I guess. Also it must be difficult to be brought up with the experience of negativity from birth to grave, and feeling other, and misunderstood, discriminated against and prejudice. Presumably it leads to them hating us.

Knowing Limerick quite well most of the problems don't seem to come from the traveller community though.

Bronte said:

Knowing Limerick quite well most of the problems don't seem to come from the traveller community though.

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191,306 people in Limerick from the last census

To say travelers don't cause most trouble is meaningless, they are only a small percentage, of course they don't

Might be more useful to look at prison popluation and these sites are from their own lobby groups

According to Census 2002:
OThere are 24,000 Travellers nationally, accounting for 0.6% of the population.

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[broken link removed]

The effects of criminalising travellers has been highlighted in an excellent report from the Irish Chaplaincy titled Voices Unheard. The research conducted in prisons over the past year found that around 1 per cent of the prison population is made up of Irish Travellers (IT). This amounts to between 2.5 and 4 per cent of the minority ethnic population in prison.
Some 51.7 per cent of IT were in prison for crimes relating to the unlawful obtaining of property while burglary accounted for 36.4 per cent.

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http://paulfdonovan.blogspot.com/2011/07/discrimination-against-travelling.html

They're punching above their weight for getting into prison anyway

Bronte said:

Ronan, I know and have seen travellers drive big vehicles (generally Ford transit vans, sorry for the stereotype. ) but really 180K on a car?

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1 of the tabloids did a front page and feature on this last year at xmas. All the Rathkeale Travellers come home every year and have over a dozen weddings or so in a short space of time on the 'home sod' (17 last xmas if i remember correctly). They had pic's of the cars....amazing line up of top of the range 4x4's and sports cars....premiership footballer standard!
great little country this (and the one next door also!)

Such a waste of money, I cannot image the logic of spending so much on a car a depreciating asset but them I'm female.

Bronte said:

Such a waste of money, I cannot image the logic of spending so much on a car a depreciating asset but them I'm female.

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...especially when your family is living in squalor