2007 | Connacht | Level 1
Bernard Sweeney
Travellers4Travellers
“ Being a Traveller, I grew up in an environment of hostility and oppression: Being a victim of violence leads to reactionary violence, feeding the conflict that exists within the Traveller Community. In addressing this, the beneficiaries will be society as a whole.”
Bernard is a member of the Traveller Community and has been instrumental in setting up a Traveller only forum, Travellers4Travellers. Bernard is looking to address issues such as conflict within the Traveller Community through mediation and restorative justice and sees the community as a whole, both Travellers and Settled people, as potential beneficiaries.
As well as supporting Travellers, Bernard also sees the forum as a means of creating a platform of potential Traveller leaders and a way of working towards direct and open negotiation and dialogue with the State on Traveller related issues. “There are ten times more Travellers in jail than Settled People. Conflict is fueling divisions within our community.”
