RUC libel Travellers
Sinn Féin Down District councillors Frank McDowell and Paddy McGreevy have challenged discrimination against Travellers on the part of the RUC and Down District Council.
McGreevy has approached the Commission for Racial Equality, the Irish Travellers Movement and Madden and Finucane solicitors with a view to taking legal action against Newcastle RUC Inspector Rudievicz for his anti-Traveller comments in a recent edition of the Down Democrat newspaper, including one bearing the headline ``Police Inspector warns on safety after harassment allegations''.
McGreevy said: ``This article began with a warning from a Newcastle RUC Inspector that motorists should `upgrade their personal safety in the wake of harassment from members of the Travelling community'. The story then continues by linking RUC Inspector Rudievicz's `advice' to `a spate of incidents last week when two female Travellers descended upon vehicles parked on Newcastle's main promenade and proceeded to wash window-screens without the drivers' consent'. The article further alleges that the two teenage girls concerned `verbally abused the drivers before demanding money and making off'.''
McGreevy has challenged the story. ``First,'' he says, ``Newcastle RUC has admitted that it has received no official reports from the public on harassment of this nature. Indeed, RUC Inspector Rudievicz confirms that he only saw members of the Travelling community selling magazines on the streets in Newcastle but never witnessed them washing window-screens and making demands for money. The obvious question here is how does RUC Inspector Rudievicz know it was Travellers even selling the magazines? What does a Traveller look like?
``To my mind, the anti-Traveller comments of the RUC inspector are further evidence of the institutionalised racism of that paramilitary force and deserve to be highlighted by the Commission for Racial Equality and those organisations representing Travellers.''
Sinn Féin's Frank McDowell is concerned that the council has erected a permanent barrier and has taken legal action to evict a group of Travellers from the car park on Newcastle's Dundrum Road. He cited the cost incurred by the Department of the Environment on clearance operations in the area after this year's Twelfth of July period, which will be around £3,800. ``Year after year, similar costs are incurred by the DoE Roads Service and Down District Council, yet one can only imagine the outcry if permanent barriers were erected at each car park or legal action taken to prevent loyalists from destroying them with bonfires every Twelfth of July period.''
Looking to the future, Councillor McDowell said: ``Long before Geraldine Ritchie and I were first elected to the council in the mid-1980s, Sinn Féin had been campaigning for a permanent service site for Travellers in the area. My constituents can rest assured that Sinn Fein will continue our campaign for justice for the Travelling community in Down District at every opportunity.''
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