Finglas travellers: a snapshot

As part of our commitment to exploring local history, and due to the large Traveller Community in the area, notices were displayed in Finglas Library in early 2019 looking for old photographs of Travellers. Sr. Patricia Lahiff, an educator and community worker based in Finglas since the 1970s, made contact.

Traveller spokesperson and poet Chrissie Ward (second from right), her grandson, award winning actor John Connors, and other members of the family, attend the launch of "Finglas Travellers: a snapshot" in Finglas Library on 5th March.

Sr. Lahiff is also a keen amateur photographer, and through the decades took photographs of the Travellers with whom she worked closely. Her vast collection also includes poems written and dictated by Travellers, and she was kind enough to allow some of her material to be displayed in the library.

Five generations of the Collins family attend the launch of "Finglas Travellers: a snapshot" which was on view in Finglas Library until 30th March
 

The exhibition, entitled "Finglas Travellers: a snapshot" was launched on March 5th 2019, and remained on display until the end of the month. Among the attendees at the launch, was Traveller spokesperson and poet Chrissie Ward (a number of whose poems were included in the display), her grandson, the award winning actor John Connors, Fr. Paddy Kelly, and five generations of the Collins family.

Attendees at the launch of "Finglas Travellers: a snapshot" on 5th March in Finglas Library, include Sr. Patricia Lahiff, who took many of the photos in the display, Chrissie Ward, Traveller spokesperson and poet, Fr. Paddy Kelly and actor John Connors.

The exhibition also included some older images, which were intended to link Sr. Lahiff's photographs back through the decades and centuries, and in doing so demonstrate the long, rich history of Irish Travellers.

Barbara Leonard, librarian.