A total of 329 members of the Travelling community in Galway city and county in 2020 were recorded as having Covid-19.
The figures, released by Pavee Point, also show that by mid-December last year, some 10 per cent of the 35,000 Travellers in the State, had confirmed cases of the virus - more than double the rate of infection among the overall population.
The figures have been described as “distressing, but not surprising”, by People Before Profit Galway representative Adrian Curran [pictured below].
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“Many Travellers are forced to live in overcrowded conditions that make ideal breeding grounds for Covid-19,” he said. “In addition, the underlying health inequalities Travellers face leave them more susceptible to the effects of the virus.”
'indictment'
He said many Traveller families in Galway were living in “inadequate conditions” without access to running water, toilets, or heating. “In light of the pandemic, it is absolutely unthinkable that national and local authorities are allowing this situation to persist,” said Mr Curran.
He pointed out that it was extremely difficult for Travellers living in overcrowded or unhygienic conditions to be able to abide by public health guidelines around social distancing or self-isolation.
“The high rate of infection among the Traveller community is an indictment of the State's decades-long discrimination against a whole section of the Irish population.”
