Roma and Irish Traveller housing and health – a public health concern

Abstract

Roma and Irish Traveller communities have endured centuries of persecution and enforced assimilation, whilst remaining under-represented within dominant sedentarist discourses. This has contributed to their suspicion and mistrust of mainstream societies. They have maintained a distinct identity characterised by their Romani or Celtic languages, communal solidarity, close extended family bonds, and cultural traditions surrounding health, morality and social codes. The lives of such groups are grounded in multifaceted poverty stemming from health disparity, inadequate housing provision, and low educational attainment within an inter-generational cycle of social exclusion. This paper discusses health disparities as interlinked with housing situations. It is grounded in the authors’ respective Irish and UK contributions to an EU-wide comparative housing report, ‘Housing Conditions of Roma and Travellers in the European Union’, and associated research materials (commissioned by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2009). An inclusive and consultative approach is of paramount importance for these groups to address housing and health care provision, grounded within a culturally sensitive assessment of ethnic, individual, and familial needs.

Keywords:

• Roma, Irish Travellers
• housing
• health disparity
• discrimination
• social exclusion
• marginalisation
• fundamental rights
• Fundamental Rights Agency

Acknowledgements

The EU-wide 2009 comparative FRA report and the FRA country case studies were prepared by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), and Pavee Point Travellers’ Centre, under a service contract with the FRA. FRA utilized materials prepared by the FRA's Race and Xenophobia Network (RAXEN) for the country-specific research reports. The authors were responsible for elements of the Comparative report, and the UK Country specific report. The reflections expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

Notes

Notes

1. The Patrin site comprehensively covers this and other related cultural beliefs: http://www.oocities.com/~patrin/beliefs.htm

2. Gypsy/Roma is used interchangeably on the Gypsy Roma Traveller Leeds website, where it is noted that some Roma who have resided in the UK for centuries also refer to themselves as Gypsy or Traveller. It also notes that when these Roma first arrived in Europe, it was assumed that they originated from Egypt, and were called Egyptians; it is from this that the word Gypsy originates.

3. http://www.oocities.com/~patrin/history.htm

4. These can be found here at: http://www.fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/roma/roma_en.htm

5. FRA commissioned Pavee Point Travellers’ Centre and the European Roma Rights Centre [ERRC] to undertake the comparative housing report. In turn, FRA was able to furnish much of the report's substantive content by utilising its own established RAXEN network – an EU-wide series of National Focal Points providing the statutory body with a range of data across the calendar year and which also provided the country specific reports which fed in to the final comparative report. For RAXEN, see also: http://194.30.12.221/fraWebsite/networks/research/raxen/raxen_intro_en.htm