Importance of Preserving the Past Noted at Successful Traveller Oral History Event

Passing on the stories and experiences of the past is essential in understanding how a community can move forward. That was one of the key messages of a well-attended traveller oral history session held last week in Ennis.

Cuimhneamh an Chláir, in collaboration with Clare Traveller Community Development Programme (CDP), hosted the special storytelling event at Waterpark House in Ennis. Titled Traveller Oral Histories: Recorded in the Clare Traveller Community, the event celebrated 18 months of work supporting members of the Traveller community to record and preserve their own stories. The initiative reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that the social history of County Clare properly recognises and includes Traveller voices.

Martin McDonagh, Bridget Mongan and Martin Keenan were the key people behind the project, interviewing members of their community in order to maintain a record of experiences from older generations. There is much enthusiasm that the work of the past two years are just the first phase in an ongoing effort to garner more oral history from the Traveller community in County Clare.

Bridget Mongan’s interviewee for the project was Maggie Maughan and her life experience provided valuable insights into the lives of Clare’s Travellers down the decades. Maggie saw it as a good life, but a tough one, where the biggest worry for her community was the scarcity of food. While this is not such an issue these days, she fears some good ways of life are being threatened or may be lost.

“People were much happier and you were never on your own back then. Travellers liked to come together more than we see today. Times weren’t easy but they were happier.”

Interestingly relations with the settled community in her early years were more positive than might be the case in the modern day.

“If we were (camped) near the farmers, they would keep clothes for us and bring food – provide bacon and potatoes, and they would give you milk in the morning.”

There was almost a co-dependency at the time as Travellers were skilled at mending farm equipment and also provided flowers to the communities they travelled through.

In other ways, her experience wasn’t quite so positive, and she remembers her and her sisters being kept separate from the rest of the school in Ennis, when preparing for their Holy Communion.

Life on the road was hard, and Maggie over time lost five of her eight children. At one point she had four children under the age of two and a half.

“We should be telling our stories for future generations in 50 years. It can help change the narrative.”

MARTIN MCDONAGH – CLARE TRAVELLER ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Martin McDonagh, who interviewed his mother Mary McDonagh for the project expressed a hope that Traveller history is recorded and not lost. “We should be telling our stories for future generations in 50 years. It can help an argument if we can see how things have been over that time. It can help change the narrative.”

Mary McDonagh married in 1989 and lived in a trailer until going into a house in 2006. She had eight children, five boys and three girls and remembers being moved on a lot by Gardai and council officials. They were often forced to camp on a rundown site outside the town, and efforts to live in better spots weren’t tolerated by authorities.

“It was teeming rain one night at 3am the Guards and farmers came down and moved the ten of us on. My husband was unable to use the horse to pull out the wagon and had to pull it himself.”

Martin Keenan interviewed his father Jimmy and his oral history delivered much on Traveller traditions. Martin observed that more and more Travellers were being educated and like him, working in good jobs, where he is respected, but discrimination persists for many. His father Jimmy spoke about the superstitions that have persisted including one where Travellers who died in a wagon could not be brought out the entrance to the dwelling, as it was seen as bad luck, and would lead to haunting.

Another highlight of the event was a slideshow of Pat Galvin’s 1970s and 1980s photo archive of Ennis Travellers, now held at De Valera Library. Galvin, who worked with the Ennis Committee for Travelling People, remains fondly regarded within the local Traveller community. The event also marked his donation of additional audio-visual materials to Cuimhneamh an Chláir.

A popular guest on the occasion, Pat was recognised for his efforts to support the local Traveller Community going back decades. He had come together with Haulie Keane, Sean Spellisey and Dermot Guinan to form the committee in Ennis and created a photographic history of Traveller life in the town. Pat was also fondly remembered for initiatives such as helping Travellers pass their driving tests, gaining access to the Clare Youth Centre, helping them to vote, as well as access classes around crafts, music and reading.

“There was no dedicated organisations around all those years ago when we set up the committee. There was a lot of hostility, and the Travelling Community were underestimated and undervalued,” Pat said, on being presented with a gift for his service on the day. “We would try to voice our concerns to authorities when Travellers were being moved on from locations around the town, but councillors were worried about their votes.”

“Nowadays like the wider community, young Travellers face problems around drugs and money being made from drugs. Money isn’t everything in life”

Bridgie Casey, CLDC Traveller CDP Coordinator told the gathering that one of the insights from the history gathered is that while some things have changed for the better in terms of Travellers’ lives, some aspects have not changed, and even worsened.

“We wanted to understand what has changed over the last 40-50 years- in some ways, very little from the times when families are being evicted suddenly at 3am in the morning. We now have minority group recognition from the state and it is positive that education is providing more opportunities for travellers but more work needs to be done, when you listen to these stories and compare Travellers experience today.”

For 17 years, Cuimhneamh an Chláir has trained people across the county to gather oral histories, enriching written records with lived experience. Through its partnership with Clare Traveller CDP, Traveller volunteers received training in interviewing techniques and technical recording skills, empowering them to document their community’s history from an insider perspective. The programme also included input from Oein de Bharduin, Traveller Culture Collector with the National Museum of Ireland.

Cuimhneamh an Chláir Project Manager Paula Carroll highlighted the significance of the initiative, saying: “We are so proud of this project. It’s so important to have communities take ownership of their own narratives, and not have their stories filtered through anyone else’s lens. Martin McDonagh, Bridget Mongan and Martin Keenan have done wonderful work so far recording their own family members and friends. We look forward to adding to that archive and making it available to the National Museum of Ireland’s Traveller Culture Collection too.”

Clare Local Development Company, which supports Clare Traveller CDP, continues to play a valuable role in enabling initiatives that strengthen community participation and cultural recognition across the county.

By supporting projects such as this, it contributes to ensuring that all communities in Clare can shape and share their own narratives.