Fine Gael's Traveller sentiment

Three prominent members of Fine Gael: its leader, Enda Kenny, its best-known Senator and MEP, Jim Higgins, and a spokesperson, Paul Keogh, have all aligned themselves with anti-Traveller sentiment. By Vincent Browne

Enda Kenny wrote in last week's issue of Village that our coverage in the previous issue of the magazine (17-23 November) of his response to the jailing of the Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, for six years for the killing of the Traveller, John Ward, "seriously misrepresented his views".

He wrote: "The death of John Ward was a horrific event that has devastated the victim's family". He went on to assert that the issue he addressed in an article he wrote for the Irish Daily Mirror related only to the law on non-fatal offences against the person and "particularly the homeowner who finds himself with an intruder in his house". He said he had drawn attention to the fact that Section 20 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person Act 1997 had spoken of a person having an opportunity to retreat before using force and how this could be taken into account by a jury in determining whether the use of force in the circumstances was reasonable. He said our failure to refer to Section 20 was due either to poor research or an unwillingness to acknowledge the facts.

He wrote: "I reject the implication in Village that to raise an issue of public concern and to give voice to the genuine worries of many citizens who fear the consequences of facing an intruder in their home is to engage in some form of anti-Traveller campaign".

We wish to make the following points:

•At the very time of a frenzied anti-Traveller mania, following the sentencing of Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, to six years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Traveller, John Ward, Enda Kenny contributed an article to the newspaper that did most to whip up anti-Traveller sentiment, the Irish Daily Mirror.

•Enda Kenny's article was published beside a large photograph of a handcuffed Padraig Nally and accompanied with the logo "Justice for Padraig".

•The headline on the article was; "Back the victims, NOT the criminals" (given this context, the claim that the article was not related to the Padraig Nally case appears disingenuous).

•The article began with an alarmist construction of being woken at 3am and the realisation that there was an intruder downstairs in one's home.

•The article claimed the law failed to protect the homeowner in such circumstances against the threat to the homeowner's life, the lives of his family and his/her property.

•The article went on to claim misleadingly that the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person 1997 Act left the homeowner open to possible conviction if a jury finds they did not avail of the opportunity to retreat before using force.

•The article expressed no sympathy for the family of John Ward and made no reference to the killing of this man being "a horrific event".

•Enda Kenny's response to that "horrific event" (as he now characterises it) was not to condemn the brutal and unjustifiable killing of another human being, but to comment on his perceptions on the inadequacy of the law in protecting the rights of homeowners.

•The problem, according to the sub-text, was not the awful killing of an already disabled and defenceless intruder, a member of the Traveller community, but the absence of a legal entitlement for homeowners to use unreasonable violence (if he does not think reasonable violence is sufficient, as explicitly permitted by law, then he must be in favour of the use of unreasonable violence).

On the legal issue, Enda Kenny claims that reference in Section 20 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 to "an opportunity to retreat" is relevant to the scenario he outlined – a homeowner being faced by an intruder in the middle of the night. It is our contention that this, in the circumstances in which he was writing, was recklessly alarmist. By no stretch of the imagination would a jury consider the use of proportionate force against an intruder who was believed by the homeowner to be threatening the property and life of the homeowner to be unreasonable.

The Act in question was introduced by the government of which Enda Kenny was a member, just two months before that Government went out of office in 1997.

Enda Kenny is not alone within his party in attempting to capatalise on this popular anti-Traveller sentiment. His Mayo colleague, Senator Jim Higgins MEP, said what had happened in the Nally case was a "wake-up call for Travellers", a remark widely interpreted as a suggestion that Travellers had reason to fear others in their community would be dealt with as John Ward was.

Paul Keogh, the Fine Gael TD for Wexford, said Padraig Nally was right to have done as he did: brutally and deliberately killing a wounded and defenceless man.

Enda Kenny wrote in last week's issue of Village that our coverage in the previous issue of the magazine (17-23 November) of his response to the jailing of the Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, for six years for the killing of the Traveller, John Ward, "seriously misrepresented his views".

He wrote: "The death of John Ward was a horrific event that has devastated the victim's family". He went on to assert that the issue he addressed in an article he wrote for the Irish Daily Mirror related only to the law on non-fatal offences against the person and "particularly the homeowner who finds himself with an intruder in his house". He said he had drawn attention to the fact that Section 20 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person Act 1997 had spoken of a person having an opportunity to retreat before using force and how this could be taken into account by a jury in determining whether the use of force in the circumstances was reasonable. He said our failure to refer to Section 20 was due either to poor research or an unwillingness to acknowledge the facts.

He wrote: "I reject the implication in Village that to raise an issue of public concern and to give voice to the genuine worries of many citizens who fear the consequences of facing an intruder in their home is to engage in some form of anti-Traveller campaign".

We wish to make the following points:

•At the very time of a frenzied anti-Traveller mania, following the sentencing of Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, to six years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Traveller, John Ward, Enda Kenny contributed an article to the newspaper that did most to whip up anti-Traveller sentiment, the Irish Daily Mirror.

•Enda Kenny's article was published beside a large photograph of a handcuffed Padraig Nally and accompanied with the logo "Justice for Padraig".

•The headline on the article was; "Back the victims, NOT the criminals" (given this context, the claim that the article was not related to the Padraig Nally case appears disingenuous).

•The article began with an alarmist construction of being woken at 3am and the realisation that there was an intruder downstairs in one's home.

•The article claimed the law failed to protect the homeowner in such circumstances against the threat to the homeowner's life, the lives of his family and his/her property.

•The article went on to claim misleadingly that the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person 1997 Act left the homeowner open to possible conviction if a jury finds they did not avail of the opportunity to retreat before using force.

•The article expressed no sympathy for the family of John Ward and made no reference to the killing of this man being "a horrific event".

•Enda Kenny's response to that "horrific event" (as he now characterises it) was not to condemn the brutal and unjustifiable killing of another human being, but to comment on his perceptions on the inadequacy of the law in protecting the rights of homeowners.

•The problem, according to the sub-text, was not the awful killing of an already disabled and defenceless intruder, a member of the Traveller community, but the absence of a legal entitlement for homeowners to use unreasonable violence (if he does not think reasonable violence is sufficient, as explicitly permitted by law, then he must be in favour of the use of unreasonable violence).

On the legal issue, Enda Kenny claims that reference in Section 20 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 to "an opportunity to retreat" is relevant to the scenario he outlined – a homeowner being faced by an intruder in the middle of the night. It is our contention that this, in the circumstances in which he was writing, was recklessly alarmist. By no stretch of the imagination would a jury consider the use of proportionate force against an intruder who was believed by the homeowner to be threatening the property and life of the homeowner to be unreasonable.

The Act in question was introduced by the government of which Enda Kenny was a member, just two months before that Government went out of office in 1997.

Enda Kenny is not alone within his party in attempting to capatalise on this popular anti-Traveller sentiment. His Mayo colleague, Senator Jim Higgins MEP, said what had happened in the Nally case was a "wake-up call for Travellers", a remark widely interpreted as a suggestion that Travellers had reason to fear others in their community would be dealt with as John Ward was.

Paul Keogh, the Fine Gael TD for Wexford, said Padraig Nally was right to have done as he did: brutally and deliberately killing a wounded and defenceless man.

Enda Kenny wrote in last week's issue of Village that our coverage in the previous issue of the magazine (17-23 November) of his response to the jailing of the Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, for six years for the killing of the Traveller, John Ward, "seriously misrepresented his views".

He wrote: "The death of John Ward was a horrific event that has devastated the victim's family". He went on to assert that the issue he addressed in an article he wrote for the Irish Daily Mirror related only to the law on non-fatal offences against the person and "particularly the homeowner who finds himself with an intruder in his house". He said he had drawn attention to the fact that Section 20 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person Act 1997 had spoken of a person having an opportunity to retreat before using force and how this could be taken into account by a jury in determining whether the use of force in the circumstances was reasonable. He said our failure to refer to Section 20 was due either to poor research or an unwillingness to acknowledge the facts.

He wrote: "I reject the implication in Village that to raise an issue of public concern and to give voice to the genuine worries of many citizens who fear the consequences of facing an intruder in their home is to engage in some form of anti-Traveller campaign".

We wish to make the following points:

•At the very time of a frenzied anti-Traveller mania, following the sentencing of Mayo farmer, Padraig Nally, to six years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Traveller, John Ward, Enda Kenny contributed an article to the newspaper that did most to whip up anti-Traveller sentiment, the Irish Daily Mirror.

•Enda Kenny's article was published beside a large photograph of a handcuffed Padraig Nally and accompanied with the logo "Justice for Padraig".

•The headline on the article was; "Back the victims, NOT the criminals" (given this context, the claim that the article was not related to the Padraig Nally case appears disingenuous).

•The article began with an alarmist construction of being woken at 3am and the realisation that there was an intruder downstairs in one's home.

•The article claimed the law failed to protect the homeowner in such circumstances against the threat to the homeowner's life, the lives of his family and his/her property.

•The article went on to claim misleadingly that the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Person 1997 Act left the homeowner open to possible conviction if a jury finds they did not avail of the opportunity to retreat before using force.

•The article expressed no sympathy for the family of John Ward and made no reference to the killing of this man being "a horrific event".

•Enda Kenny's response to that "horrific event" (as he now characterises it) was not to condemn the brutal and unjustifiable killing of another human being, but to comment on his perceptions on the inadequacy of the law in protecting the rights of homeowners.

•The problem, according to the sub-text, was not the awful killing of an already disabled and defenceless intruder, a member of the Traveller community, but the absence of a legal entitlement for homeowners to use unreasonable violence (if he does not think reasonable violence is sufficient, as explicitly permitted by law, then he must be in favour of the use of unreasonable violence).

On the legal issue, Enda Kenny claims that reference in Section 20 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 to "an opportunity to retreat" is relevant to the scenario he outlined – a homeowner being faced by an intruder in the middle of the night. It is our contention that this, in the circumstances in which he was writing, was recklessly alarmist. By no stretch of the imagination would a jury consider the use of proportionate force against an intruder who was believed by the homeowner to be threatening the property and life of the homeowner to be unreasonable.

The Act in question was introduced by the government of which Enda Kenny was a member, just two months before that Government went out of office in 1997.

Enda Kenny is not alone within his party in attempting to capatalise on this popular anti-Traveller sentiment. His Mayo colleague, Senator Jim Higgins MEP, said what had happened in the Nally case was a "wake-up call for Travellers", a remark widely interpreted as a suggestion that Travellers had reason to fear others in their community would be dealt with as John Ward was.

Paul Keogh, the Fine Gael TD for Wexford, said Padraig Nally was right to have done as he did: brutally and deliberately killing a wounded and defenceless man.