Don’t be quick to condemn travellers

Over the past weeks there has been a lot of media news on the plight of the Gypsies and travellers based at Dale Farm and other sites around the country with the emphasis on the state of the land, trails of rubbish and destruction of the sites when they leave, together with hostility and resentment because of unauthorised encampments together with widespread prejudice against them to which they either end up leaving or being evicted from the sites. Most local authorities provide sites for them but they lack basic toilet facilities and waste disposal, have no concrete foundations for caravans, are situated near motorways, rubbish tips and sewage farms, are tucked out of site of shops and schools, have no transport to jobs and essential services and when they attempt to purchase land are then refused planning permission to put their caravans on the site.

While it is easy to condemn these people who wish to live their lives this way as other generations before them have we seem to have forgotten as a society our responsibility for the welfare of the children of the Gypsies and travellers.

When moving to a new location frequently they have been turned away from joining the local doctors, children joining new schools are subjected to bullying, and as a result of constant moving from site to site 80 per cent of the children leave school illiterate.

So before we condemn Gypsies and travellers because of their way of life we should not forget they are human beings and come under the flag of the Human Rights Act and European Court of Human Rights which does afford them some protection. - Pam Thomas, via email.