Laois Travellers appeal for youth work funding

A TEENAGE brother and sister from Laois are among those appealing for more funding for Traveller youth work schemes, which have given them opportunities and hope for the future.

Dolly Nevin (16) and her brother Aaron (15) from Laois Traveller Action Group (LTAG) were at the launch of a new mapping survey of Youth Work funding on 23 April. The survey found that most Traveller organisations nationwide do not receive any funding for youth work.

As a panellist at the launch, Dolly stressed the benefits of investment in youth work, which has helped her to become an inspirational voice for young Travellers.

Dolly said: “Young Travellers face so many challenges – discrimination, lack of opportunity and barriers in education and employment. Youth work gives us a chance to be heard, to grow and to lead. Youth work changes lives. I’m living proof of that.

“Youth work gave me the support and space I needed to believe in myself. It helped me realise that I could make a difference, not just in my own life but in the lives of others too.” 

The teenager won a Laois Offaly Garda Youth Award two years ago, in recognition of her exceptional work and advocacy for young Travellers.

Speaking at the mapping survey launch, LTAG Community Development and Youth Worker Brian Byrne said he has seen first-hand the transformative impact of targeted youth work.

He said: “Young Travellers face significant barriers in education, employment and social inclusion. Without proper investment, we risk leaving another generation behind. Youth work provides not just support but also hope, opportunity and a sense of belonging.” 

Brian said that LTAG was proud to highlight Dolly’s story, as a young Traveller woman whose life has been transformed through youth work. He said: “Dolly is now a strong and inspiring voice for change in her community.” 

Almost half of Travellers live in counties which have no funded Traveller-specific youth projects, according to the mapping survey launched by the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM).

The survey, of both Traveller specific and mainstream youth services, prompted the LTAG to call for improved mapping of youth work funding, ‘to better meet the needs of one of the most marginalised groups of young people’.

The majority of funding for youth work programmes comes through the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth ‘UBU’ programme, which targets disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable young people.

However, the ITM survey found that numerous counties with significant Traveller populations have no Traveller-specific UBU funded youth projects, including Cork, Limerick and Wexford.

The survey found that while Traveller organisations were more active at engaging with Traveller youth than mainstream youth services, over half of Traveller organisations (53%) receive no funding for youth work.

The survey titled ‘Mapping Youth work for Travellers in Ireland’ includes data from 93 organisations, 67 mainstream organisations and 26 that were Traveller specific.

The ITM said the survey showed that young Travellers need to have ‘equitable opportunities to culturally competent youth work spaces’, whether a Traveller-specific space or a mainstream youth work space.

Rose Marie Maughan, ITM’s coordinator of the National Traveller Youth Programme, said: “The decision-making and allocation of youth work funding should respond to the fact that Traveller youth are a key target group who have a high level of tailored needs, due to decades of social exclusion and experiencing anti-Traveller racism in all aspects of their young lives.

“It should allocate funds accounting for the population of Travellers per county, as well as within the context of the broader youth population. ITM is calling on the UBU programme to resource Traveller youth workers in all counties and also for positive recruitment of Traveller youth workers in mainstream youth work services, in order to increase engagement with the local Traveller organisations.” 

The survey found that Traveller (52%) and mainstream organisations (45%) both reported educational disadvantage as the most significant challenge experienced by young Travellers.

The ITM is a national advocacy and membership based Traveller organisation representing local regional and national Traveller groups and organisations across Ireland.