Galway Traveller Movement (GTM) will celebrate the annual Galway Traveller achievements awards in Galway City this weekend.
The awards ceremony will take place on Traveller Ethnicity Day, Saturday, March 1 at the ILAS Centre, Newcastle Road, at 5:00 PM.
Members of the Traveller community, along with past and present colleagues of GTM, have been invited to attend the ceremony.
The event will recognise achievements in education, young people, enterprise and employment, sport, culture, and heritage.
Nora Corcoran, Accommodation Coordinator with GTM says it’s vitally important to mark achievement 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. The trio will offer a wonderful mix of traditional and contemporary songs and music.
Founded in 1994 as an independent Traveller organization advocating for the realisation of Traveller human rights, GTM marks a significant milestone in 2024—30 years of collective action for change.
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.
Additionally, the Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures, a three-day annual event, continues to thrive and grow. The 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, they will host a special event in June. The event theme is “Respecting Our Past and Shaping Our Future – Traveller Voices, Change Makers.”
