The Galway Traveller Movement (GTM) will celebrate the annual Galway Traveller achievements awards on Traveller Ethnicity Day, this Saturday. March 1. The ceremony will take place at the ILAS Centre, Newcastle Road, at 5pm.

Members of the Traveller community, along with past and present colleagues of GTM, have been invited to attend the ceremony, which will recognise achievements among young people, and in education, enterprise and employment, sport, culture, and heritage.

Accommodation Coordinator with GTM, Nora Corcoran, says it’s crucial to mark achievements because Travellers face so many barriers.

“The Traveller community has proven its resilience in the face of adversity and a backdrop of extreme racism and discrimination. We have maintained our dignity, even when Irish society turned its back on us as a community.”

Nora says the Achievement Awards are a testament to this resilience.

“We call on Galway City and County to join us in celebrating these accomplishments. We also urge them to be courageous in challenging the ongoing human rights violations faced by the Traveller community daily.”

The awards evening will feature performances by singers and musicians, PJ Mongan, Annie Keenan and Francis Ward, who will offer a wonderful mix of traditional and contemporary songs and music.

Galway Traveller Movement was founded in 1994 as an independent organisation advocating for the realisation of Traveller human rights.

Each decade has brought progress, says Nora. In its early years, GTM saw the establishment of the Traveller Peer-Led Primary Health Care Programme. It now employs 30 people and runs a successful community employment scheme with 20 young Travellers participants. Today, the community boasts two growing social enterprises, which contribute to the circular economy. These enterprises are managed by Travellers and employ 20 people.

In addition, the three-day annual Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures continues to thrive and grow. This festival, the only one of its kind in Europe, shares the rich and vibrant stories of Traveller culture and heritage with audiences near and far.

Nora says that as part of GTM’s 30-year anniversary, the group will host a special event in June, with the theme of “Respecting Our Past and Shaping Our Future – Traveller Voices, Change Makers”.

Pictured: Singer and musician PJ Mongan will be among the artists playing at this weekend’s Galway Traveller Achievement Awards.