Laura Angela Collins
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Laura Angela Collins is a London-based
Irish Traveller Irish Travellers (, meaning ''the walking people''), also known as Mincéirs (Shelta: ''Mincéirí'') or Pavees, are a traditionally List of nomadic peoples#Peripatetic, peripatetic Indigenous peoples, indigenous Ethnic group, ethno-cultural g ...
activist and author.


Early life

Collins was born and raised in
Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...
, London to Irish parents and attended the
BRIT School BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, ...
for performing arts and technology. Her grandmother, Angelina Collins, renamed Angela, is buried in a mass grave in St. Finbarr's Cemetery in
County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...
with 72 other women, after working for 27 years in a
Magdalene laundry Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries (named after the Biblical figure Mary Magdalene), were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to ...
. Collins has campaigned for her grandmother's exhumation and for apologies from the Irish government and
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. Collins' mother, Mary Teresa Collins, is a survivor of the industrial school system in Ireland, and was a child resident of St Vincent's Magdalene Laundry in Cork.


Career

Collins chairs an
Irish Traveller Irish Travellers (, meaning ''the walking people''), also known as Mincéirs (Shelta: ''Mincéirí'') or Pavees, are a traditionally List of nomadic peoples#Peripatetic, peripatetic Indigenous peoples, indigenous Ethnic group, ethno-cultural g ...
led survivor support group, she has published research regarding the
Irish Traveller Irish Travellers (, meaning ''the walking people''), also known as Mincéirs (Shelta: ''Mincéirí'') or Pavees, are a traditionally List of nomadic peoples#Peripatetic, peripatetic Indigenous peoples, indigenous Ethnic group, ethno-cultural g ...
community, and the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, where 800 babies are in a mass grave in
Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...
,
County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
. She has also undertaken research on Irish institutions such as industrial schools, mother and baby homes, county homes and the Magdalene Laundries and has been a critic of the
Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation (officially the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters) was a judicial Commission of investigation (Ireland), commission of investigation, estab ...
and past investigations into child abuse such as the
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known ...
and the McAleese Report (formally known as the ''Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries''). In July 2015 Collins arranged a protest in Dublin she flew over from London with her family to peacefully stand outside the
Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...
. On the day Laura’s mother Mary stated she believes the mass grave her mother is within is filled with
Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler, or The Traveller may refer to: People *Anyone engaged in travel Groups * Romani people, or Roma, or Gypsies, and their subgroups in various countries * Indigenous Norwegian Travellers * Irish Travellers ...
women subjected to the same inhumane treatment that she received while in the
Industrial Schools Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...
. In September 2015 Collins had called on the Irish government to fast track the redress scheme for aging survivors, and to grant free
legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...
to people taking a case to the Mother & Baby Homes Commission and for the government and the church to support and fund families to remove their loved ones from
mass graves A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...
and give them their own burial. She wrote to the
Minister for Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
calling for
justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
for the forgotten families of the victims of
institutional abuse Institutional abuse is the maltreatment of a person (often children or older adults) from a system of power. This can range from acts similar to home-based child abuse, such as neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and hunger, to the effects of as ...
. Although it was arranged for a meeting with the Justice Department to deliver the letter, as they approach on their arrival the doors were locked. On 27 January 2017, Collins and her mother held a service at her grandmother's, Angela Collins, mass grave in St. Finbarr's Cemetery for all the women and children who had died within Irish institutions. Collins said to the TheJournal.ie her grandmother was "a good mum and all the children were healthy, Angelina did not go out and rob a shop and got herself arrested – she was a mother caring for her children. All it is based on is she didn’t have a ring on her finger and was a Traveller," Collins said she believes her grandmother was taken into a county home due to being an unmarried Traveller mother. On 1 March 2017 Irish Travellers gained ethnic minority recognition within Ireland. Four days after it was issued, on 5 March 2017, Collins reported to the ''Irish Mirror'' that "There are many, many Traveller community names that appear on that list of 796 babies and children. My mum was treated differently because of who she was. I hate to imagine how many more Traveller children are in unmarked graves in Ireland. It just makes me so angry. This is just the beginning." On 18 March 2017, ''The Sunday Mirror'' and ''Irish Sunday Mirror'' quoted her, saying she "had identified 335 known traveller's surnames in the 796 remains buried at the Catholic-run mother and baby home in County Galway". On 7 June 2017 Collins organised another protest, in which her mother Mary stood outside the Dáil to call for the Treatment of
Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler, or The Traveller may refer to: People *Anyone engaged in travel Groups * Romani people, or Roma, or Gypsies, and their subgroups in various countries * Indigenous Norwegian Travellers * Irish Travellers ...
children to be investigated and acknowledged. Collins said on the day of the protest that the government should look at the Magdalene laundries, mother-and-baby homes and industrial schools together, as it’s believed they were all connected. In June 2017 Collins sent out press releases to media outlets calling for an official apology to the Traveller community by the government on behalf of the effects around the 1963 commission of itinerancy report. Collins has campaigned against the
National Maternity Hospital The National Maternity Hospital (), popularly known as Holles Street Hospital, is a large maternity hospital in Ireland. It is at the eastern corner of Merrion Square, at its junction with Holles Street and Lower Mount Street in Dublin. It is man ...
being run by the
Religious Sisters of Charity The Religious Sisters of Charity or Irish Sisters of Charity is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Mary Aikenhead in Ireland on 15 January 1815. Its motto is ('The love Christ urges us on'; ). The institute has its headquarte ...
. Collins chairs the organisations Justice 4 All Women & Children, Mincéir Model’s, and Travelling People Worldwide. She has been interviewed on
RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...
,
Cork's 96FM Cork's 96FM is one of three local radio stations licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland for Cork City and County in Ireland (the other two being its sister station C103 and youth music station Red FM). It broadcasts from studios a ...
, and the Niall Boylan Show. Collins petitioned to ensure the government do not lock away the records of survivors from
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known ...
(Ryan report) for 75 years, she said to journalist Anne Sheridan "I started the petition to show the Government that this is not what survivors and the public want, the effects the laundry had on my mum has never gone away. The large Irish community of survivors in England feel very cut off and distanced from this and, again, their voices are not being heard. The abuse for them has never stopped, this is another cover-up," she told Extra.ie. Collins issued a Retention of Records Bill 2019 submission to the Minister of Education and Skills. Collins and her mother continue to publicly push for an apology to be issued to their community. In November 2020 she said to the
Echo Live ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a bro ...
in regards to the Mother and baby home commission: "I hope that the report will be transparent and that people get the access to information that they deserve. Throughout the years, it has all been about secrecy." Collins and her mother Mary believe that her grandmother Angela was "one of many
Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler, or The Traveller may refer to: People *Anyone engaged in travel Groups * Romani people, or Roma, or Gypsies, and their subgroups in various countries * Indigenous Norwegian Travellers * Irish Travellers ...
women who ended up in Irish institutions," and they wonder why this has not been recognized. she said "her mother, grandmother and other Travellers who were put into
industrial schools Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...
, Magdalene laundries and other institutions should receive an apology from the
State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
for what they went through." In October 2021, Collins created a campaign called Stop Traveller Hate for Hate Crime Awareness Week in response to concerns that social media platforms are either ignorant of the effects of racism against Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people or do not view it as an important enough issue to address urgently. The campaign lobbied TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, urging them to take hate speech against Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers seriously. In July 2023, Collins joined the Traveller Movement as the Women’s Equality Intern, where she worked within the organisation to support the development of the Women’s Empowerment Network (WEN), campaigned against gender-based violence, and worked towards equality for Traveller women. Soon after starting this role, she transitioned into the position of Partnerships Coordinator. In this role she led on projects, including the development of toolkits for schools about Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers, and the creation of an inspirational historical timeline highlighting notable Romany Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller women. On September 2023, Collins organised a screening of Never Going to Beat You at the Irish Embassy in London, focusing on domestic abuse within the Irish Traveller and Romani communities. Following the film, Collins participated in a panel discussion, addressing the importance of educating young people about healthy relationships, and the need for more support for those affected by abuse. The event aimed to raise awareness and stimulate important conversations around these issues. On November 30th 2024, in response to the treatment of Romany Gypsies and Travellers by Greater Manchester police during the Manchester Christmas markets, Collins organised a protest in London to call for an end to systemic prejudice, as well as for accountability and reform. On the day of the protest, Collins said: “We are demanding accountability for the systemic problem of discrimination and police violence against our communities. We are calling for a full investigation into these abuses and immediate changes to ensure our communities are treated with dignity, respect, and equality.”


Awards

In 2019 Collins won the first ever Traveller Pride award (arranged by the Irish Traveller Movement), in the intersectionality category, which was awarded to her by
Catherine Corless Catherine Corless ( Farrell; born 1954) is an Irish historian, known for her work in compiling the information concerning the deaths of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway. After gaining an interest in local history ...
.


Books

* ''The Tinker Menace; the diary of an Irish Traveller'', independently published, (2019)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Laura Angela Irish Travellers from England British writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British women writers British people of Irish descent British activists Critics of the Catholic Church Irish Traveller women