Madam, - I would like to congratulate Vincent Browne on his insightful piece on the euphoria of last Saturday in Croke Park (Opinion, February 28th).
As a member of the Traveller community I too was ecstatic, as a keen follower of Irish Rugby since childhood. This was a day when Ireland showed its maturity when it came to past wrongs. Sadly that maturity does not extend to its abuse of the Traveller people of Ireland.
As Vincent Browne so rightly says, the living conditions of Travellers are deplorable and the racist attacks in the tabloids on a daily basis are outrageous.
However, the most depressing part of his article is his reference to the inertia of the organisations representing Travellers. The sad thing is that these organisation, set up to create Traveller leaders, with the drawing down of State and EU funding, have now become part of the problem as most of them have remained in the control of non-Travellers.
Until this imbalance is addressed settled people will continue to create an imaginary voice for Travellers while the Traveller voice is muffled. - Yours, etc,
PATRICK NEVIN, (Traveller Irish), Rialto, Dublin 8.