GREEN MSP ASKS FOR PUBLIC APOLOGY FOR TRAVELLING PEOPLE

The Travelling People

Song by The Dubliners

I’m a freeborn man of the travelling people
got no fixed abode with nomads I am numbered
country lanes and bye ways were always my ways
I never fancied being lumbered

Well we knew the woods and the resting places
the small birds sang when winter time was over
then we’d pack our load and be on the road
they were good old times for the rover

In the open ground where a man could linger
stay a week or two for time was not your master
then away you’d jog with your horse and dog
nice and easy no need to go faster

And sometimes you’d meet up with other travellers
hear the news or else swop family information
at the country fairs we’d be meeting there
all the people of the travelling nation

I’ve made willow creels and the heather besoms
And I’ve even done some begging and some hawkin’

and I’ve lain there spent wrapped up in my tent
and I’ve listened to the old folks talking

All you freeborn men of the travelling people
every tinker rolling stone and gypsy rover
winds of change are blowing old ways are going
your travelling days will soon be over

Songwriter: Ewan MacColl

By Bill Heaney

An MSP this week asked for a public apology from the Scottish Parliament to the Gypsy Traveller community for the way they are treated by Holyrood

Green MSP Mark Ruskell asked the Scottish Government whether it will issue a formal public apology in light of reports of the harm caused by what was known as the tinker experiment.

We have tinkers living in Dumbarton on the Dennystown Forge site or old Phoenix Park which lies between the River Leven and the Dalreoch to Balloch railway line.

Other members of this community spark public outrage when they set up temporary camp at Havoc on the Clydeshore and even in Levengrove Park.

The Minister for Equalities, Kaukab Stewart, told MSPs: “In 2023, we commissioned independent archival research to better understand historical policies and their impact on the Gypsy Traveller communities. That research is now complete and we expect to publish the report online by the end of May.

“Alongside the archival research report, we will release a summary of findings from our initial engagement with community members who have been impacted by those historical policies, as well as our initial response.

“These are complex and sensitive matters, and we are committed to getting this right to provide meaningful answers for everyone who has been affected.”

Mark Ruskell told her: “I welcome the fact that more research is being done, but what the community needs is an apology. The research must lead to an apology, because generations of families have been impacted by actions that were sanctioned by the state.

“My constituents have suffered. People who could have thrived have instead been shunned by local communities, racially abused and provided with inadequate, if not inhumane, housing conditions.

“They have endured decades of physical and mental ill health. What further action can the Scottish Government undertake to make meaningful improvements in the lives of those who have been impacted by this truly shameful period in our history?”

Kaukab Stewart replied: “There has been engagement with the affected communities over the past few years. I visited communities and heard about the effects of the tinker experiment directly from them.

“The initiatives that we are taking, through the Gypsy Traveller action plan, for instance, are driving positive change in tackling inequality for communities across Scotland.

“In partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, we published our second joint action plan in September 2024, which set out concrete steps to improve outcomes for Gypsy Travellers.

“The voices of those communities and of key stakeholders helped to shape that plan. The plan acknowledges the improvements that have been made in many areas since the publication of the previous plan in 2019, but it recognises that more needs to be done.”

Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP) highlighted the fact that in recent years, the Scottish Government has invested millions of pounds in infrastructure improvements for Gypsy Traveller sites.

He said: “Scotland has 8,000 park home residents. There are three park home sites in my constituency that have—by contrast—received little support, and some sites are owned by Gypsy Travellers.

“When will the fees that are charged on park home residents be held to the consumer prices index, rather than the retail prices index, as the Minister for Housing suggested on 27 February?”

Ms Stewart said: “The Housing (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced on 26 March 2024, includes provisions to change the basis of pitch fee uprating under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 from the retail prices index to the consumer prices index.

“The timetable for implementing the changes that are proposed in the bill will be decided by the Parliament; we propose to implement the changes shortly after the bill receives royal assent.

“The bill and its accompanying documents have been published on the Scottish Parliament website. The bill was introduced on 26 March 2024 and is at stage 2 of the Parliament’s scrutiny.”

Top of page: Travellers camping illegally in Levengrove Park, Dumbarton.