The fight for justice: The Barrett family of Galway :: Essays Papers

The fight for justice: The Barrett family of Galway The following newspaper clippings concern a Galway Traveller family named Barrett. Perhaps the individuals named Barrett in these stories are not actually related, though taking Traveller marriage customs into account, the likelihood is that they are. What is sure is that they are all Travellers, and on that basis alone they are worth viewing as a piece. Due to their lifestyle, Traveller families remain largely unrecorded by official history records. We receive occasional glimpses of such histories buried in the newspaper columns of court proceedings. We only hear Traveller voices when they are speaking as defendants. The only traces of depreciated minority populations are to be found in such public records, when they are found at all. Such has been the case with the Barrett family. A member of the Barrett family came to public prominence in 1996. Francie Barrett, then nineteen years old, represented Ireland at the Atlanta Olympics. This would seem to offer a happy ending to the sorrowful annals of the Barretts, an end to the prejudice and injustice. Such was not the case. Following is a 1931 account mentioning a man of the name Barrett: â€Å"In No Man’s Land: Galway Squatters to be Evicted† Connacht Tribune 7 Nov. 1931: 7. William Matthews and John Burke, Water-Lane, Galway, brought an action against James Barrett and Patrick Ward for trespass on property at Water-Lane, Galway†¦Burke swore that†¦these two men came along and built ‘shacks’ on it†¦Burke said even if these people paid rent for the place it would not be accepted as the Board of Health served notice on the owners that the premises were unfit for human habitation†¦Barrett swore that he was in occupation of the premises for the last four years†¦Ward†¦had a wife and seven children there and if he went out he had nowhere to go except the side of the road. He was willing to pay rent for the place or buy it. The Justice said he was satisfied these men were trespassers [and fined them]. In this case, two of the most common and numerous Galway Traveller family names, Ward and Barrett, are not even acknowledged as such. The newspaper describes them as squatters, and the court treats them as such. Their ethnic identity is denied by not being referred to, because to do so would problematise their treatment. There is no concern expressed as to the fate of the men and their families, once they have left the property.