Westmeath Community Development

Although still only finding “their feet” the Westmeath Traveller Project is already making its mark as being another voice for the local Travellers in Athlone.  

Funded by the HSE with Westmeath Community Development being the management sponsors, the Traveller project is only formed a short while.  Nonetheless it has so far already set up the Women’s Group at Blackberry Lane and have been on hand to offer assistance to Traveller queries including that relating to housing, health, GP registrations and immunisations for children.

The two women who are fronting the project are Aisling Bolger and Elaine Delaney.  Describing their roles, they explain that their “remit is to work with Travellers around building up their capacity to take part in decision making that may affect them thus hoping that they can up skill Travellers in Athlone so that they can put forward representatives from the community to decision making bodies.”

The capacity building has an important role to play in the future of both the Traveller project and the Travellers themselves as it helps them to be able to independently run their own groups, to apply for their own funding and so forth.  “We are upskilling them so that they can make decisions themselves, we help them to help themselves,” stated Elaine, with Aisling adding that this ranges from very basic skills to advanced skills.

Currently there are four Travellers sitting on the management group of the Travellers project which is vital as “their input is very valuable to our work”, stressed the women. 

At the moment, however, there are hardly any Traveller representatives sitting on decision making bodies.

“There is an inter agency group that support Travellers needs like the HSE, Westmeath VEC and the County Council, and it is vital that Travellers are on these groups to represent their view.”

Another aspect of the project is to work on a “needs basis,” meaning that Aisling and Elaine’s work would depend on what the Travellers look for themselves.  As mentioned earlier, one of the areas that the women are working on is the Blackberry Lane halting site and developing activigties and community groups including that of The Women’s Group, which aims to get all the women together and assess what they want, of which was suggested that a FETAC accredited computer course be provided for them.  Aisling and Elaine would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and students at the Shannon Banks Training Centre for their support and engagement with the Traveller Project to date. 

The Westmeath Travellers Group can be contacted on 09064-94555 or by email on:-

Aisling Bolger                 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Elaine Delaney               This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it