Travelling People

Itinerant tribes have been a constant in Irish society for hundreds of years. Known by many as tinker, travelers or gypsies, these groups have been at the receiving end of hostility and racism as long as they have co existed with settled people in Ireland. The women of these communities often marry before they turn fifteen and are historically uneducated. Though this is beginning to change. The travelers move from field to field constructing temporary homesteads where they keep their horses and make camp, sometimes for years. Bridget, a mother and grandmother in her early forties speaks about her experience as a traveling woman now living in a halting site. She fought for her children's education and tells us how illiteracy has affected her life.