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The following newspaper clippings concern a Galway Traveller family named Barrett. Perhaps the individuals named Barrett in these stories are not actually related, though taking Traveller marriage customs into account, the likelihood is that they are. What is sure is that they are all Travellers, and on that basis alone they are worth viewing as a piece.
Due to their lifestyle, Traveller families remain largely unrecorded by official history records. We receive occasional glimpses of such histories buried in the newspaper columns of court proceedings. We only hear Traveller voices when they are speaking as defendants. The only traces of depreciated minority populations are to be found in such public records, when they are found at all. Such has been the case with the Barrett family. A member of the Barrett family came to public prominence in 1996. Francie Barrett, then nineteen years old, represented Ireland at the Atlanta Olympics. This would seem to offer a happy ending to the sorrowful annals of the Barretts, an end to the prejudice and injustice. Such was not the case. Following is a 1931 account mentioning a man of the name Barrett:
“In No Man’s Land: Galway Squatters to be Evicted” Connacht Tribune 7 Nov. 1931: 7.
William Matthews and John Burke, Water-Lane, Galway, brought an action against James Barrett and Patrick Ward for trespass on property at Water-Lane, Galway…Burke swore that…these two men came along and built ‘shacks’ on it…Burke said even if these people paid rent for the place it would not be accepted as the Board of Health served notice on the owners that the premises were unfit for human habitation…Barrett swore that he was in occupation of the premises for the last four years…Ward…had a wife and seven children there and if he went out he had nowhere to go except the side of the road. He was willing to pay rent for the place or buy it. The Justice said he was satisfied these men were trespassers [and fined them].
In this case, two of the most common and numerous Galway Traveller family names, Ward and Barrett, are not even acknowledged as such. The newspaper describes them as squatters, and the court treats them as such. Their ethnic identity is denied by not being referred to, because to do so would problematise their treatment. There is no concern expressed as to the fate of the men and their families, once they have left the property. An obsession with the letter of the law, whilst ignoring the social and cultural causes of such law breaking, is typical of the unjust treatment of Travellers in the Irish court system of the early twentieth century. The Travellers are caught in a ‘Catch 22’ situation: they are forbidden to live on the land free of charge, but they are forbidden to rent the land by the Board of Health. They are unwanted by the society in which they are attempting to live. The title “In No Man’s Land” is perhaps more apt than the writer realises. The following is a 1963 court case also involving an individual named Barrett:
“’Tinkers Are Suffering Injustices – But the Law is the Law’ – Solicitor” Connacht Tribune 16 Feb. 1963: 6.
Before Justice T. G. Burke were Daniel Donovan, Mary Winifred Ryan, Patrick Corcoran, John Ward and Martin Tom Barrett, all of no fixed abode, who were summoned by Galway Corporation for maintaining caravan camps in prohibited places inside the Borough boundary…‘I am bred, born and reared in Galway’ [John Ward] said, ‘What do you want to do with us? We are made travel from place to place like dogs.’ They [said that they] were willing to pay £1 per week for a fixed place so they could send their children to school. ‘It is very hard. They are following us night, noon and morning’ [said Barrett]. He had been waiting twenty years for a house…When asked to give an undertaking that he would leave the site, he said: ‘I won’t until I get a house out of it.’ [The solicitor] said that the people seemed to be suffering an injustice, but the law was the law. People in the locality had to be protected. Judge Burke fined each defendant…
Again there is no reference to the fact that all the defendants have typical Traveller names. They are ‘of no fixed abode’ – an ethnocentric denial that a caravan cannot be a home. What it is that the people of the locality require protection from? An irrational fear of those who do not conform, of those who encroach upon the boundaries? When John Ward offers to pay to remain on the land, he addresses a major problem of Travellers to this day: the lack of fixed ground on which to park caravans, or return to after travelling to other counties. John Ward feels the need to stress in court that he is a true Galweigan. Travellers sense, from the manner in which they are treated by the authorities, that they are not considered full citizens of their nation – they can be driven from place to place with impunity. One Traveller woman reported on by Gmelch’s study Tinkers and Travellers, characterises the settled Irish as “people of a different nationality” (114). This belief of Travellers stems from their marginalisation, not from any perceived genetic divergence from the main population.
The gym Francie Barrett used to train for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was a converted second-hand metal container – ironically appropriate since metal trading is an established Traveller trade. Barrett reached the highest accolade in amateur sport without running water or electricity, let alone proper training facilities. He was trained by a Galway city barber who did not discriminate against Travellers, as often happens at local sports level, and whom Francie constantly refers to in interviews as a second father. On qualifying for the Games at age nineteen, he became a darling of the media, who transformed the story of a modest, quietly spoken Traveller into a ‘boy-from-the-margins-makes-good’ fairytale. Francie was the first Traveller to represent Ireland at Olympic level, and the first Traveller to carry the national flag at the opening ceremony. In Atlanta he won his first fight by a record score and was marginally beaten on points in his second round fight. Once Francie qualified for Atlanta, he was approached by Irish director Liam McGrath and his crew who wanted to turn his ongoing story into a film. The subsequent documentary, Southpaw, was released to good reviews in early 1999, and was the only Irish film screened at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.
All of the accolades Francie has received in the media do not protect him from the discrimination against Travellers that is still rampant on the ground in Ireland. Travellers are routinely barred from clubs, bars and restaurants. In the instance following, Francie, peaceably enjoying himself in a club, was thrown out when a bouncer recognised his accent as being that of a Traveller:
“Francie ejected from a Galway night-club for being a traveller” The Examiner 22 March 1999: 2
The Ugly face of Ireland’s raw brand of discrimination was brought into sharp focus when Olympic boxer Francie Barrett was ejected from a Galway night-club. Overnight he became a rallying point in the battle over discrimination against travellers and other minority groups. On course for another national title and the Sydney 2000 Olympics, he could face more discrimination as no restaurant will accommodate his family’s victory celebration dinner. If he wins Francie is unlikely to emulate Mohammed Ali’s anti discrimination gesture following the 1960 Olympics. No red carpet awaited when [Ali] returned to America, and as a black, no up-town restaurant would serve him. Disgusted, he climbed onto a bridge and threw his gold medal into the river. Last year in Dublin delegates to an international conference on discrimination got the same treatment when two hotels cancelled dinner on learning that travellers and gypsies were involved. Despite the hype surrounding Francie’s fairytale as he boxed his way to the Olympic quarter finals, his story illustrates how anti-traveller racism lurks deep in the Irish psyche. Remarkably, the night club incident was the second time the 22-year old had experienced personal discrimination…”…I was refused entry to the night-club in Salthill”.
The comparison of the Traveller experience in Ireland to that of the black in America is also found in the following statement of a Traveller in the work Irish Tinkers (Wiedel and O’Fearadhaigh. Latimer: London, 1976): “I know what it’s like to be a black and to have the spit of nine men on your tail… (91). Remarkably, Francie Barrett appears to be without bitterness at his treatment. In a recent interview, he outlines his future hopes:
“Dreaming bigger than the rest of us” Irish Times 14 Jan. 1999: 28
“I’ve always wanted to get to an Olympic Games. Now that I’ve got there in Atlanta I want to achieve my goal in Sydney. I want to win my medal. That’s what I’ve always wanted…I’ll do it for Ireland. Not just for Travellers. Don’t forget I’m an Irishman as well”.
In his emphasis that he is an Irishman, it is poignant that he seems to be echoing the words of his namesake’s co-defendant all those years before. The discrimination, and the internalised suspicion that the Traveller’s right to full citizenship is not automatic still continues…
“You’ve read about Galway’s famous boxer Francis Barrett – now see the movie” Galway Advertiser 9 July 1998: 8.
A film telling the story of the rise to fame of Galway’s most famous boxer – Francis Barrett – will be shown…as part of the Galway Film Fleadh (festival)…
If all this sounds heartwarming, read how most of his kind dealt wit in article from same paper:
“Travellers’ life expectancy ten years less than settled community” Galway Advertiser 14 May 1998: 31
Less than two percent of the West of Ireland’s 4,000 travellers are aged over 65 years…Traveller men live on average 10 years less than settled men while Traveller women live 12 years less than their settled peers. Travellers generally have a low uptake of preventative health services…They have high stillbirth, perinatal and infant mortality rates, more than twice those experienced by settled people…
In same edition of same paper – clue to why don’t use government services perhaps:
“Health board member to be disciplined over call to: Keep Tabs On Travellers” Galway Advertiser 14 May 1998: 1.
A Western Health Board member who called for Travellers to be tagged like livestock to monitor their movements is to be disciplined by his party for his ‘racist and inflammatory’ comments. Fine Gael Councillor John Flanagan (Mayo) – a member of a Traveller committee…for 17 years – created a storm…Flanagan told this month’s meeting of the W[estern] H[ealth] B[oard] that some tracing mechanism, such as the microchips used to tag animals, should be used to feep tabs on Travellers as they move from county to county. This would prevent them “abusing the system”, he said. “There is no knowing what number of them are in the country…Our livestock are traceable. Every known animal is traceable whether a pedigree animal or a flapper. We should know at any time where they [Travellers] are…They…should not have the privilege of lying in the sun ”like a pedigree dog, stretching themselves”…But fellow Mayo councillor and WHB member Padraic Cosgrove shares some of Flannery’s concerns. The settled community is “bending over backwards” to accommodate Travellers but they do not want to be housed, he told the same WHB meeting.
Read the Galway Advertiser online.
This project was completed under the direction of Dr. Leon Litvack as a requirement for the MA degree in Modern Literary Studies in the School of English at the Queen's University of Belfast. The site is evolving and will include contributions from future generations of MA students on other writers and themes.
This page was written by Mary Burke.
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