Travellers to lodge formal complaint about Late Late

The Irish Traveller Movement is to lodge a complaint with the director general of RTÉ after a debate about Travellers on The Late, Late Show on 17 November. The debate was aired on foot of a new book by Sunday World journalist Eamon Dillon, entitled The Outsiders: Exposing The Secret World Of Irish Travellers, in which he deals specifically with criminals living within the Traveller community.

Alongside Dillon on The Late Late Show were Irish Independent columnist Ian O'Doherty, Martin Collins of the Pavee Point centre and Derek Hanway of the Belfast Travellers' group An Munia Tober. Eamon Dillon and Ian O'Doherty were very critical of the Traveller community, with Ian O'Doherty saying there were two types of Travellers: "good Travellers" who live in settled accommodation like the majority of the Irish population and "bad Travellers" who live the traditional nomadic Traveller lifestyle. Host Pat Kenny repeatedly focused the debate on the criminal elements of the Traveller community.

Damien Peelo, director of the Irish Traveller Movement, has said that they plan to write formally to the director general of RTÉ expressing their concerns at the way the topic was handled.

"The programme was set up in a terrible way. I can't think of any other ethnic group that would be treated with the same hostility," he said. "I was horrified that The Late Late Show allowed this to be done to Travellers."

Peelo said that he had declined an invitation to the show after he received a copy of the book and was told what guests would feature.

"We didn't go because we didn't trust the way it was set up. I think The Late Late Show is just looking to be controversial for the sake of being controversial," he said. "We're writing formally to the director general to state our concerns about this being shown by the national broadcaster," said Peelo.

It is understood that another Traveller organisation, the Southside Traveller Action Group, is to lodge a formal complaint with the broadcaster.

There are approximately 25,000 Travellers living in Ireland at the moment, around 4,500 different families.

Pat Kenny and RTÉ were asked to make a comment on the criticism, but neither party had returned calls at the time of going to print. The number of calls received on the night, both for and against the comments made during the show, was also unavailable.

Adam Maguire