Irish Travellers are a small indigenous minority group with a unique shared history, culture,customs and language. Their lifestyle and culture, based on a nomadic tradition, makes them an identifiable group, both to themselves and to others. The population of Irish Travellers is 40,129 (AITHS,2008).
Travellers experience a high level of prejudice and exclusion in Irish society. Many have to endure living in intolerable conditions, with approximately one third having to live without access to the basic facilities of sanitation, water and electricity. This leads to ongoing health problems among the Traveller community. The recent All Ireland Traveller Health Study found that female Travellers live 11 years less that women in the general population and male Travellers 15 years less than men in the general population. It also found that Travellers are still experiencing discrimination in their daily lives.
