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	Some have disgraced their community, says first TD from Traveller background</p>
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	Travellers involved in criminality are a disgrace who have shamed their own community and shown disrespect to settled people, Sinn F&eacute;in TD P&aacute;draig Mac Lochlainn, who is half- Traveller, has said.</p>
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	Some of the &ldquo;mistrust&rdquo; felt by the settled community has been justified by &ldquo;very poor behaviour and worse&rdquo; by some Travellers, said the Donegal TD, who has urged the State to recognise Travellers as an ethnic group.</p>
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	&ldquo;There is criminality within the Travelling community. They are a disgrace, those involved in criminality, they let down their own community and they shame their own community,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not in denial that there have been some in the Travelling community that have let down their people by criminality and by disrespect for the settled community. So it&rsquo;s a two- way street. This is not about hugs and kisses.&rdquo;</p>
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	The first TD from a Traveller background, Mr Mac Lochlainn was born in Leeds in 1973 and brought up in Birmingham by &ldquo;two strong Traveller women&rdquo;, his grandmother Lizzy Gavin and mother Mary Mac Lochlainn.</p>
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	His father, R&eacute;amonn Mac Lochlainn, was in the Provisional IRA and was jailed in England for nine years. The family moved back to Donegal in 1983. His father died in a swimming accident two years later.</p>
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	Traveller ethnicity</p>
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	Mr Mac Lochlainn has spearheaded the campaign for the State to recognise Traveller ethnicity, with the debate he initiated in the D&aacute;il this week provoking a passionate speech from Minister of State for Equality Aodh&aacute;n &Oacute; R&iacute;ord&aacute;in on Tuesday night.</p>
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	Mr &Oacute; R&iacute;ord&aacute;in did not read his official script but suggested the Government was slow to grant ethnicity because of the response from focus groups.</p>
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	&ldquo;Aodh&aacute;n&rsquo;s speech was very courageous because he set aside the Civil Service script and spoke from his heart, and it was a great speech. And he meant it, I know he means it. On this issue we&rsquo;re colleagues and we&rsquo;re allies and we&rsquo;re friends,&rdquo; Mr Mac Lochlainn said in an interview with The Irish Times.</p>
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	The Sinn F&eacute;in TD said he had been terrified by some &ldquo;vile commentary&rdquo; voiced on social media about the tragedy of the 10 people who died in the fire at the halting site in Carrickmines, Dublin, last month.</p>
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	The next step for society should be to have an honest conversation to address the &ldquo;quiet prejudice&rdquo; against Travellers that had grown up among some otherwise tolerant settled people. &ldquo;That is the slippery slope to bigotry and to racism.&rdquo;</p>
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	He stressed those who advocated for Travellers&rsquo; rights had no difficulty in saying antisocial behaviour and criminality must be tackled head-on. &ldquo;It is not Travelling culture to be involved in criminality,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	Deeply disrespectful</p>
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	Mr Mac Lochlainn said the vast majority of Travellers were &ldquo;good, decent people&rdquo; but he had spoken out about an incident a number of years ago when a group of Travellers from &ldquo;down the country&rdquo; came to Buncrana in his constituency and &ldquo;took over&rdquo; amenities at the shorefront for two weeks in August.</p>
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	&ldquo;It was a deeply disrespectful thing to have done to another community. I conveyed that to the Travellers who were there.&rdquo;</p>
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	Mr Mac Lochlainn said all citizens had responsibilities as well as rights. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a right-wing thing to say . . . People think it&rsquo;s Thatcherite to say that. It&rsquo;s not. It&rsquo;s Republican to say that,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	&ldquo;This is one of the last great civil rights challenges in Ireland, the Travellers issue. We&rsquo;ve buried it under the carpet, we&rsquo;ve papered over the cracks for too long. And we need to now have an honest conversation, warts and all.</p>
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	&ldquo;And everybody needs to accept their responsibility on both sides of the debate for what needs to be done.&rdquo;</p>
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	He invited people with concerns about some Travellers&rsquo; behaviour to come and speak to him or other public representatives, adding that he had no illusions that advocating for Traveller ethnicity was a vote-winner.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/sinn-f%C3%A9in-td-criticises-traveller-criminality-1.2418161">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/sinn-f%C3%A9in-td-criticises-traveller-criminality-1.2418161</a></p>
