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A FIANNA FÁIL councillor has been criticised for saying that Travellers should be housed away from settled communities and that they “wreck homes”.
Councillor Sean McEniff, who has been a member of Donegal County Council for 45 years according to the Fianna Fáil website, told Ocean FM in Donegal today that he believed that “there should be an isolated community of them some place – and give them houses and keep them all together”.
“You wouldn’t want it beside you nor I wouldn’t want it beside me,” he told the station. McEniff said he was quite happy that he was “speaking facts” but said he was not racist or bigoted.
Fianna Fáil has distanced itself from McEniff’s comments and told TheJournal.ie that he was “expressing a personal opinion”.
McEniff was on the radio to discuss Donegal County Council’s plan to purchase a house to provide accommodation for Travellers in Ballyshannon at a cost of over €230,000. McEniff said it was “par for the course” that the house would eventually be “wrecked”.
Sinn Féin TD for Donegal North East Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said the party should take disciplinary action against McEniff. He said:
There is a gap between the traveller and settled community and it is the responsibility of all public representatives to act responsibly and build trust.Anti-traveller racism in all forms is unacceptable in Ireland, and it is mind boggling to think that Councillor McEniff would think ethnic slurs are tolerable.
A Fianna Fáil spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “Sean McEniff was expressing a personal opinion. Fianna Fáil is committed to equality and has done more than any other political party to advance the cause of travellers’ rights over the last decade”.
Sean McEniff’s profile on the Fianna Fáil website says he was Donegal Person of the Year in 1996 and served as Director of Bord Fáilte from 1993 until 1998.
Cllr Sean McEniff (Image: Fianna Fáil website)
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It’s true. the man speaks the truth.
He’s absolutely spot on in everything he says, I have lots of experience of varying traveller families living close to me and they’ve all been bad experiences.
He has 45 years experience, if any of the halting sites I pass by are anything to go by then 45 seconds are enough to give me the same opinion.
Just because they are a “minority group” does not give them the right to treat the countryside as a dump, avoid taxes, scrounge off the state and add nothing to this country (except rubbish). Feckin bunch of wasters!
I am disgusted at how so many people on this thread have lumped all of the traveller people into the same bucket and branded them all with the same broad brush strokes, based on the isolated examples of a few bad apples. The whites in America, branded all balck people the same until Martin Luther King.
You people in support of these comments, make me sick. The sooner that Ireland brings in clear laws to prosecute you racists, the better. Its a minority of travellers who have abused the system, but you blame the entire race. Please grow up and stop these general accusations that have resulted from a few individual cases.
Its like saying EVERYONE from FF is corrupt, based on the examples of FF leaders over the last 20 years. Its not right and not appropriate.
Ehmm, sorry to burst your bubble there Mooney but it’s not based on isolated incidents. The isolated incidents are where they have behaved in a manner befitting a human being.
Cal1 mooney.
What age are you – 12?
My god, now I know us Irish are racist, we learn nothing from other countries who have persecuted minorities. I thought we were better. People are so narrow minded. These poor people are doomed.
Ok racism does not equate to being disgusted by the terrible behaviour by the vast majority of a certain group. If anyone of any race /ethnic / minority group, steal, disrespect defraud me i wont be very tolerant or accommodating and will certainly have a dislike for them. This does not make me a racist! So please do not be so quick to use this word.
Well said Rob.
Not buying “it’s only a minority of people” , can’t be the same people all over the country robbing copper from houses , pony and traps on the roads, bareknuckle fights etc, etc . When they start behaving like normal people maybe then they might be accepted but until then its just not going to happen
Sean McEniff’s comments are taking the focus off the main point of the story which is that the council are spending 233,000 buying a house for one family that are known for their anti-social behaviour. The fact that they are travellers is irrelevant.
State getting fleeced again. Possibly 100k dearer than most places in the country!!!
It’s not irrelevant when he says –
“there should be an isolated community of them some place – and give them houses and keep them all together”
He doesn’t sound too concerned about paying for houses there…
@mart_n Sorry I meant the fact that the family that the council are buying the house for are travellers is irrelevant. One wouldn’t want any family notorious for anti-social behaviour living near them. I do not stand by McEniff’s comments at all.
Fair enough Sarah, but do you agree with what he said.. the bit I quoted above?
It seems like a needlessly insensitive and inflammatory thing to say. By all means, speak about specifics but saying stuff like ‘keep them all together in an isolated community’ doesn’t do any side a favor.
@mart_n Absolutely do not agree with that at all! Segregation gets society nowhere.
@ Christine Bohan – Not even a reply, just delete my comment asking you a question?
@ John duggan
Talk to joe & just tell him you are from clontarf, sorted….
@ Conor we’re being fleece! they’re crippling us with taxes everywhere and they still don’t value money. Who ever you are, if you are antisocial with a track record, a house is the last thing you should be getting, jail more like.
@ mart, they are already isolated, and they choose and prefer that.
The cheek of the bugger given the amount of broken homes and ruined families that his party have left behind. I’d prefer to have all the inhabitants of Mountjoy move in around my home that the likes of him and his friends.
He speaks the truth. And people who disagree have probably never had any dealing with travellers.
Not often I agree with ff but I have to say from extensive personal experience he is 100% right. It is a shame that this country has allowed the pc brigade gag the rest of us with regards to crime. There is an epidemic in the country regarding travellers and crime. Anyone who disagrees really needs to meet all the elderly people who are being robbed and conned or go visit a halting site and see the rubbish and wreckage that is left behind. I would love to say I’ve met some decent ones in my career although alas I cannot and it is sad to say that as I have met wonderful people in all other walks of life. Visit the injured parties of their crimes or visit their sites and see for yourself.
And their not travellers!
For real proof check census of last 4 years.. Travelling community only make up .02 percent of population (about 40,000) but when you look at stats on amount of time this ethnic minority have taken in district courts in the land you will see how disproportionate the amount of appearances they feature…. Of course the pc brigade here will say, not their fault, society is to blame. What a load of rubbish, society has bent over backward to accommodate this minority schools, social welfare, housing etc etc….
couldn’t agree more Kevin, they are a disgrace and what is worse, they’re exploits abroad do nothing for the countries image.
Kevin, you are a FF supporter, am i right? Please be honest…
Here here
Yeah, the travelers are ruining our image with foreign people. Not the inherent bigotry shown by the populace at large.. or the fact that our Taoiseach is well known for making ‘n!gger’ jokes.
The mans only the truth and fair play to him for speaking his mind rather then hiding behind political correctness bullshit
What sickens me is the high moral ground and PC attitude of FF colleagues and Sinn Fein. The man speaks the honest truth. Where else in the world is anti social behaviour rewarded ? The house will no doubt end up being burnt down and guess what ? we will buy them another one !
The main issue for me is that the council are buying a home worth nearly quarter of a million for a family, in the middle of a recession, during a time where councils have had their budget cuts…affecting services such as waste, youth facilites etc!!
And (I’m assuming!) a family that has never paid tax!!
One family, 11 kids, they get over €13,500 a year on child benefit alone, let them buy their own house.
I was working in Shannon a little over 10 yrs ago and beside where I was working they built 4 houses for travellers . Within a week of them moving in they had caravans in the garden and horses in the houses . I sh.t you not .
John, I had the same experience with an Irish family… no word of a lie, so lets brand all Irish people the same. People are quick to jump and brand everyone the same. Individual families need to dealt with accordingly, but do not go and label an entire race of people the same.
Cal1
If you know an Irish family that had caravans on the lawn, and horses in the houses, then I’d take a flying leap that they might actually have been travelers (in disguise)?
I have to agree with him. I’ve had plenty of encounters with travellers in the past and none of these experiences have been positive. That’s not to say that there are no decent travellers I’m sure there are except I have never met them.
€230,000 for one house in Ballyshannon ???….whatever about what counsellor thinks of Travellers I’d be more worried about who council is paying to build such edifices….they’re obviously ripping council off big time to be charging this price…or else house is 6/7 bed mansion with pool/ juccusi…I seem to remember firesale in Donegal recently whereby HOTEL sold for @ < € 60k and entire apartment block for <@ €100k……OR MAYBE BUILDER IS COUNSELLOR ALSO…wink,wink,nudge,nudge,say no more.
These insert other ethnicity and see the reaction comments are stupid and blind to the real social problem we have allowed to develop in Ireland, our typical unwillingness to actually stand up and demand action over generations has allowed one group terrorise and operate outside the laws of the land. It’s about time the State actually started to demand that these traveller groups actually started to bring some sort of social order to the travelling community and stop playing the victim every time somebody speaks out.
Have any of these travellers ever paid a cent tax apart from the v.r.t on there new vehicles every year. Alot of people who paid tax down trough the yrs get ignored when applying for a well needed council house now which would cost a mere 60k…. As usual its a badly divided world… Well done mc eniff
Anyone ever seen a clean halting site? I took a wrong turn around northside before m50 and went up a road half covered in 3foot of dumped rubbish for about 300m at the end a halting site.
(ANYONE KNOW THAT ROAD?)
Possibly somewhere near clonshaugh, close to cara park halting site perhaps?
The man is spot on in what he says, they will get the house which will be funded by the council and the funding for this will be the property tax! Time to stop letting them play the ethnic minority card and get away with anything they want!
This is the man who threatened to sue Met Eireann because he did not like their forecasts for Bundoran.
Oh don’t all the do gooders get into gear when this kind of thing happens, we’ll fair play to the man, absolutely dead right. How many of ye so gooders would have the travellers camping on your street ?
Sounds like he is spot on to me
Wow, an honest politician , very rare..
It’s laughable that such comments can be excused by stating the ‘it’s a personal opinion’ line.
His personal opinion is the same as a majority of us, he has the balls to state it, fair play to him!!!!!!
He shouldn’t have to excuse his comments at all.
He’s elected by the public and he’s speaking for them.
We all know what will happen to that house.
Time and time again.
Jim, if one family have totally abused the system, they should be dealt with accordingly.. That family. To go after an entire race of people because of one family, or a few bad experinces sticks of out and out racism. Deal with each case on its own merits. The traveller community are part of the Irish fabric. For people to make generic comments about an entire race of people is sick. Hitler comes to mind. He wanted all trvavellers and Jews to be exterminated. Do you agree with his sentiments?
What’s really funny is that we’re paying for that house. Also the vast majority support his comments yet the tiny minority will make sure he is punished. Whatever happened to majority rules!
@cali
Godwins Law…..
Very wrong for an elected member to come out with a statement like this. He is representing members who voted for him. He should keep personal opinions like this to himself.
We’re tired of political correctness and demagogues
Michale, i see on other thread you defend FF to the hilt… Based on your input here now, can i now take it, that FF are going after all travellers in order to garner votes at the next election?
http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-government-poll-coalition-752405-Jan2013/?utm_source=shortlink
Mags in all fairness he IS representing what the vast majority of his constituents think. And I agree with his sentiments.
Does anybody want to buy some Lino?
Or a dag?
I wonder if his issue is scale? He says Travellers will inevitably wreck homes. Whereas Fianna Fáil laid waste to entire estates and the housing market across the entire country. Maybe he is offended by their inefficiency at only wreaking havoc one house at a time? Allegedly.
Vincent, i am with you on this … Politics shouldn’t come into this discussion. I understand that the UN has told Ireland that it must address the fact that travellers are a minority race in Ireland, and must be attributed rights accordingly. Some individual families have given the commenters on here the right to go and label an entire race of people as home wreckers etc. This is just sick in my opnion. Its not all FF people either by the way.
Tell us all about your experiences of travellers cal, tell us about all the good things they do and contribute to society, I’m genuinely interested.
Jim,
Tell me about your experiences with FF. Tell me how they helped this society. I ask this, beacuse, i know the majority of people on this thread are FF, because, i checked a couple of profiles, and some of them had links to FF. Should we drive FF out of the country?
My last comment was meant tongue in cheek .. it was meant to reflect that not all FF voters are corrupt, self-serving pigs. You cant label all people the same.
You won’t find FF anywhere on my page cal, now can you please try and answer the question I asked you?
Talk about pc, although the comments made may not be conveyed in the smartest manner. If somebody showed u a shovel you wouldn’t call it a spade, say it like u see it. It would be interesting to know of the 0.2% population of Irish people that are members of the travelling community, how many of these people have criminal convictions, jobs, pay taxes, obey the rules set out for the people of Ireland.
They say liberals frequent The Journal; but mention the word ‘Travellers’ and the pointy hats and white robes come out. Shameful.
@ Petr
Do same said robes and hats come out any time catholicism is mentioned on Journal.ie?
Just because someone is a liberal does not mean that they turn a blind eye to anti social behavior. It is difficult to see an alternative perception to a community when you have overwhelmingly seen a bad side. That is just humans.
I dont care who you are. Everyone is prejudice, against Catholicism, against Irish, English, hipsters, whatever their gripe is.
If you say your not, your only lying to yourself. discrimination is a natural faculty of the mind. You discriminate against certain products. You would probably rather tayto than king’s.
If you dont believe you have discriminate personality ,go and buy a beef burger from Tesco.
Obviously they have wifi on your planet. Outrageous comment!
@Cal1 Rooney I am a supporter of no main political party..
Outrageous thing to come out with! and yes I grew up alongside travellers
Interesting stuff, a bit like the guy in Kildare that would not deal with black Africans, I think Sean will be spending quite a bit of time in his garden.
There’s a lot of bigots about.
So an opinion based on experience make you a bigot? They’re not an ethnic majority, they’re people who choose to live in caravans at the expense of the state.
If you don’t think his comment was bigoted John you don’t understand the meaning of the word. It’s clear bigotry and those who support it are supporting bigotry.
John,
Most muggings in Dublin are carried out by Dubliners… does that give us the right to say that all Dubliners should be evicted?
I am going to break the rule on brining the holocaust into any argument, but Hitler gassed so many Travelers during the second world war and people stood idly by, because they were ‘accepted’ as somehow being less than human, going by the comments on here tonight , the same mind-set is alive and well in Ireland today. I am sick.
When people talk about the holocaust, they think of the Jews being murdered. They want to forget, the ‘Gypsies’ suffered the same fate as the jews, but its almost eradicated from our history books.
John, who to believe.. yourself or geneticists that concur that they are in fact an ethnic group.. tough one that.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/dna-study-travellers-a-distinct-ethnicity-156324.html
Even if they aren’t a distinctly ethnic group, painting the all with the one brush is moronic and intrinsically bigoted. Tell yourself otherwise until you’re blue in the face, but when the UN and a multitude of human rights groups say otherwise I’d be inclined to listen to them sooner than the rantings and ravings of idiots on the internet.
Ireland has no right to moan about human rights abuses in other countries while its people are guilty of ignoring it themselves.
Most muggings in Dublin are committed by dubs, true. But it would be stupid to say most dubs are muggers unless the majority of dubs a person met were in fact muggers. If that was the case, that 80%+ of the dubs you met were muggers, you could be forgiven for avoiding contact with dubs, but that is not the case.
I have known and met lots of travellers. Hundreds. Three had ever worked a day in their life, and fair play to them, and fair play to everyone who makes a genuine effort to contribute to society by respecting their surroundings, their neighbours and taking their job as a parent and a citizen seriously, regardless of culture, race or whatever. In my experience that was very few among the travellers I’ve known and met.
Replace “blacks” with “travellers” and tell me you still agree.
Blacks didn’t steal my laptop from my car outside Woodies DIY
Blacks didn’t steal copper hot water cylinders from my place of business
Blacks didn’t assault me with a 2 x 4 outside same place of business
Oh, and that was just in 2012
Does a traveller stop being a traveller when they live in a house?
McEniff obviously doesn’t understand the definition of racism, he should be thrown out of the Dail.This country will never move forward with ignorant pigs like him in office
He’s not in the Dail. He’s a councilor. His type are a dime a dozen. Parish pump politics at its finest. The Healy-Rae’s will be kicking themselves that they didn’t come out with it first.
No comparison to Healy Rea. The man has the balls to call a spade a spade. Healy Rea is just a wind bag.
@Tony
Clearly you don’t understand the definition of racism either. The Travelling community is just that, a community. It isn’t an independent race. It isn’t a separate ethnic minority. It is simply a self-segregated community which has chosen to live in a different manner and behave in a different manner than the rest of Irish society.
Now I know many people will jump on the “all Irish are racist” card which is itself a hypocritical statement. But the fact is that travellers are considered a negative segment of society in Ireland, the UK, the US and surprisingly even the Netherlands. Clearly there is more than just an Irish problem here. Is it a problem with the above societies? They all have one thing in common. All have multiple actual races and ethnicities living within their borders and generally racism isn’t a major issue in them. So clearly there is more at work here than just simple discrimination.
Round them up and give them somewhere to live away from everyone else?the movie Schlindlers list springs to mind. Cant stand them either but that could be a step too far mr councillor.
I have a settled family of travellers living nesr me. Thry mind their own business. Travellers have their own culture. The problem has been that we have forced ours on them. Instead of their traditional cultural markers thet now have a perverted version of ours. Yes we all know about the bad stuff but even though our government offices had been given the job of facilitating their culture, they have failed to do so, prodominantly because they, like this example.. are intrinsically biased against travellers outside abd inside their public roles. A step in the right direction would be the end of the lampooning on tv. If there is a societal problem with travellers its up to our public reps to address it not stoke the flames.
@Strongbow.
The Irish State is not biased against Travellers. The Irish State spends more per capita on Travellers than it does on any other section of Irish society. How is this bias? 92% of Traveller community in Ireland get state unemployment benefits from cradle to the grave. Can anybody name another nation (apart from UK) where you can get social welfare benefits for your whole adult life until you die? If anything they don’t know how good they have it in Ireland.
You’re right, settled culture has been imposed on travellers to a certain extent. But it is also true that they have embraced parts of the state that changed them. If they were to reject settled Ireland in its entirety there could be some honesty in their position between two cultures, but they don’t. Clean up after yourself, take care of your local environment, settled culture, don’t oppress me with your culture! Pay your way, get an education and a job, sexual equality, send your kids to school, have car insurance, pay tax etc. ditto. But dole, free housing, free medical, yeah those are grand and in fact I demand them and contribute nil. There are exceptions and everyone should be open to acknowledging them, but experience tells us they are very much the exception.
Oih do any ye biggots want to buy a Piebald Pony,me business with tescos is buggered.
The Lads in the Pub say they will do business with you if the Piebald Pony is better looking than McEniff.
He is allowed to have his opinion but…IF i said not all Nigerians are scammers but i still wouldnt want one of them living next door to me.
Rob, i shared a house abut 3 years ago with a Nigerian couple. Honestly, they were lovely and no scamming. When i told people i was sharing with Nigerians, they thought i was crazy. Please do not give in to the ‘ Lynch mob’ attitude.
We feel the same about politicians, someone tell me what councillors do? Besides passing budgets and enforcing laws passed by the Dail, we’d survive without them i say and save loads of money. Reform the seanad, elect the senators, have one body take care of councils around Ireland and appoint the managers to each council.
Most crime (everything from assault to fraud) in this state is committed by men. So can I refuse to have any men housed anywhere near me, please?
This individual should be required to resign his council seat and it should be offered someone with a Traveller background.
I’m sure nobody will object to your first request. !
@ Kevin – Round what group up? Travellers or Nigerians?
Is it that time already has the first Councillor jumped onto a soup box (local radio) to canvass for the local elections. Traveller bashing always catches a few vote proving what a bigots you are still after 45 years even more. I won’t pretend that i know anything about traveller issues, its a different culture something that seems to have got stuck around 1950. I wish their children would finish school move on to college maybe even contest the local elections standing up for traveller issues at council level.
Whats the difference between the travellers and the settle community?
Alot
If you need to ask that them you have zero experience of travellers.
Go on give us the punch line! What is the difference between travellers and settled people?
The comments are going to be closed on this article for the night now. We don’t do this often, but there’s a heated discussion going on here and a disproportionately large number of comments have had to be deleted for breaking the comments policy. It will be re-opened in the morning.
Its proble cause they dont vote well lets see next time hes looking for votes shame on him he proble doesnt mind the brotle been next to him who is he to say who lives next to him he dont own this country
A testament to our education system.
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