British police dismantle Traveler’s Dale Farm home after violent eviction

Well said, Jacers! Like I said - a big subject, and part of our Culture. Like a pinching shoe!

DanO’s post below reminds me of a Traveller joke: A young traveller gets a job in a sports shop. On his first day, the boss spends it training his new employee. A customer walks in and asks for a tennis racquet. The boss asks him “Would that be for a grass, clay or tarmac court?” Following the boss’s advice, customer buys the correct racquet. He says to the traveller “See? That’s how you do it.” “That’s easy”, says the traveller. Another customer walks in and asks for a baseball bat. The traveller asks him “Would that be for a wedding or a funeral?”

(...more) 3. They were metal workers who lived outside monasteries like Glendalough and Monasterboice - making chalices, monstrances, patens etc and tin cups, pots and pans (hence ‘Tinkers’) for the monks - forced to look for work elsewhere when English King Henry the 8th closed down the monasteries, travelling the roads from town to town selling their trade wares, camping by the roadside wherever they choose; there is another theory that to save themselves they inter-bred with Viking invaders who attacked the monasteries which might explain why Norse DNA is often found in Irish Travellers. 4. They were people forced out of homes and land during An Gorta Mór (the Great Famine), forced to go from town to town begging for food and shelter. ¬ The constant travelling trait of nomadism was common to all four. Many Irish Travellers went to England and North America during and after An Gorta Mór and settled mainly in Texas, Sth Carolina and in Newfoundland. The language spoken by Irish Travellers was always unique, a kind of old ancient Irish and it was found that the Irish people of Newfoundland spoke this dialect. Even the family names of Irish Travellers are often uniquely ancient... but you won’t find them in Irish telephone directories!

Agreed Townie – but we wait to see what long term effect this “investment” of £18m will bring and if Irish authorities do likewise in Ireland. The Dale Farm Travellers are said to be “Irish” but it is known that there are many Scottish Travellers in Britain too. The origin of the Irish Travelling Community has long been debated and may not at all be related to the Roma peoples. Studies by experts of their origin fail to agree. A number of possibilities emerged - 1. They were descended from the first Celts who were pushed westward by new invaders from the east and became travellers constantly on the move around Ireland for fear of attack in any one place. 2. They are descendants of followers/disciples of the travelling monks going around Ireland spreading the new Christian faith brought by Saints Patrick, Brendan, Colum Cille et al, which might explain why the Catholic faith and belief in healing and miracles is so strong amongst Irish Travellers (remember them all at Knock, with Joe Coleman last year?) Before the invention of the clock, these people knew that Time was not their Master. (More...)

A lovely roma-ntic notion of a free peoples living their ancient lifestyle and enjoying their own special culture is something to be treasured and envied in this modern hurly-burly world. Fine: I have no problem with that. The difficulty for me, arises when they make demands on the Society they choose to shun and expect all the benefits of police protection, free Education and Healthcare ... without making any contribution - financial or otherwise towards it! ~~~~ So far as Dale Farm is concerned, they bought the site of a disused scrap metal yard next to a legal site provided by the Council. Planning Permission for residential development was refused and despite this over the course of TEN years, the local authority did everything it could to provide their housing needs, which they refused. The aggravation to the local rural community worstened as the number of settlers on the illegal site increased. Basildon Council is Legally bound to serve the best interests of the comunity and preceeded if a fully lawful manner. The 'travellers' knew the game was up when their final Appeal to the High Court failed, and that might well have been the end of it ~ then you have the decent of the hobby protester gal-lahs coming to resist on their behalf, chaining themselves and 'cementing' themselves to gates and fences while the 'travellers' - who by now had moved back onto the legal site, stood and watched and laughed at them. But laughing even louder were the Bailiffs and Police who must now be counting what share of the eighteen Million pounds the Eviction cost - has landed in their bank accounts! Three cheers for Basildon Council and its Community, for a job well done ... and a hard lesson learned by the static travellers!

oldboreen n jacers - you're dead right - Travellers create trouble out of all proportion to their numbers - how many times have they thrashed pubs and bars across Ireland after funerals etc. Slash-hooked feuds and the conning of old folk out of badly needed cash need to be abandoned before any Welcome signs will go up, in fact down here in Mayo there's a very different approach to travellers - just ask Frog Ward R.I.P.

kilkenny999-you're talking nonsense! I'm Irish and living in England and I can say for certain that there was very little evidence, if any, of racial predudice playing any part in the eviction of the so-called 'Travellers' from Dale Farm. I would suggest that the vast majority of Irish living in the UK-about a million of us-were embarrassed by the antics of these 'Travellers' who in fact travel nowhere, and who seem to totally disregard the rule of law. Ask youself kilkenny999, why do you think these 'Travellers' choose to settle in the UK???

I am Irish and have, these days, little time for Travellers in Ireland. I worked on projects of both infrastructural and artistic kinds to help better their lives, intended to encourage them to be absorbed into mainstream Irish society. We put the money and efforts in, they completely thrashed the results of our efforts. The Dale Farm travellers are no different. Travellers take what they can for free (like the land at Dale Farm), beg on the streets and at our home doors though they have no need to, set up camps wherever they choose to and expect the rest of society to agree to their way of life and demands. At Dale Farm, it looks like mainstream society got back at them.

i have no idea what ethnic mix the people who post on this site come from,but take it from me racism is alive and well behind closed doors in england.

Duh! 86 families are needing homes and all you can do is give us an English language lesson, johhnyb? This is the real world. A local church was torn down after over 5 years because it was built without the proper permits. Another was delayed because it they started without obtaining the correct permits prior to starting building. While these are sad situations, this is tragic. ex. Just because you have a ticket does not mean you can get on the plane without being screened.

Duh! 86 families are in need of a home and that is all you have to say, johhnyb? An English lesson? This is the real world. Stuff happens. There was a church in town that was built before all the proper permits were inhand. It was occupied for over 5 years but had to be torn down. Another one was delayed a couple years and almost didn't get beyond the cement pad because it was started before all the correct permits were issued. These situations are sad. This one is tragic. Lesson: don't assume anything any more. ex. Just because you have a ticket to ride doesn't mean that you will be allowed to travel.

Just more careless editing from IC.

Sorry to have to tell you. Despite what your headline says. there was more than one traveller.