The Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) is a national organisation for members of the

Travelling Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel can ...

community and Traveller organisations in Ireland.

History

The Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) was founded in 1990 and incorporated in 1998, with Catherine Joyce as the founding chairperson. The organisation represents 40 local and national Traveller groups from the island of Ireland.

Core Activities

The ITM collects and publishes data and reports relating to living conditions, educational prospects, and other aspects of the lives of Irish Travellers. It advocates for equality for Travellers in all aspects of life, promotes pride in the culture and identity of the Travelling community and promotes and produces evidence based solutions for all issues affecting the Travelling community. The organisation has partnered with organisations such as St Stephen's Green Trust on programmes such as the Travellers in Prison Initiative. It has held initiatives such as Traveller Focus Week from 2004. ITM was one of the groups which submitted recommendations to a Seanad Committee on the inclusion of Travellers in Irish public life. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ITM highlighted the difficulty the Travelling communities have relating to access to clean water, toilets, and the cramped sites on which many families live.

Free legal aid

ITM is one of a number of not-for-profit organisations in Ireland which provide free legal advice to travellers, alongside Mercy Law Resource Centre, Ballymun Community Law Centre, the

Immigrant Council of Ireland The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) is a non-governmental organisation and independent law centre based in Ireland which advises migrants on their rights while advocating for increased migrant protections. History Immigrant Council of Ireland ...

, the

Irish Refugee Council The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) is a humanitarian, non-governmental organisation that protects the rights of people affected by displacement. History The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) was founded as a non-governmental, membership organisation in 1 ...

, the Free Legal Advice Centres, and Northside Community Law Centre.

Roma community

The organisation has also been one of the groups, alongside Pavee Point, who have partnered with organisations and individuals advocating for the Roma community.

Traveller Pride Week

The ITM is the coordinator of the Traveller Pride Week, which hosts the Traveller Pride Awards. It established the awards in 2009. Awards are given out across 7 fields: community, enterprise and employment, sport, education, intersectionality, youth, arts and culture, and music. Past winners have included Laura Angela Collins and Oein DeBhairduin.

References