Travellers in Galway city say they are fed-up with being illegally excluded from pubs in the city centre, and will march through Galway city this weekend in protest.
Posters have been erected around town advertising a ‘March to the Arch’ on Sunday, March 21, at 1.30pm from Galway Cathedral to Spanish Arch.
This is the fourth annual protest as part of the ‘Let us Inn’ campaign to tackle alleged discrimination in the hospitality sector in Galway city. Sources in the sector say there is particular unease at this weekend’s protest, with concerns raised in private WhatsApp groups of publicans in the city centre.
A spokesman for Galway Communities Against Racism and Discrimination, one of the event organisers with the Galway Traveller Movement, said the march was “not antagonistic, and should be a fun, family day for various diverse groups to come out in what is forecast to be a sunny Sunday, which is also coincides with this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.”
Speaking to the Advertiser on Wednesday, organisers had not yet filed a notification of a march with An Garda Síochána, but said it was in the pipeline.
A senior city Garda officer confirmed no notification had been submitted: “But we had seen the posters.
Galway has the highest number of Travellers in Ireland, with the most recent census showing 1,800 living in the city, and 2,500 in County Galway, with centuries of tradition and history here for an ethnic minority which gained legal protection in 2017.
