Figures show members of Traveller Community more than twice as likely to contract Covid-19

Hand Sanitiser Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Overcrowding is one of the main problems facing the Traveller Community in Tipperary and nationally when it comes to the spread of Covid-19.

Figure show 10% of the ethnic minority have contracted the virus compared to 4% of the settled community.

This has led Travellers to call for them to be prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccination.

Jack Griffin from the Tipperary Rural Traveller Project says they have worked with both Tipperary County Council and the HSE to improve the situation

“In fairness there has been progress made – and you know cynically you could say it shouldn’t take a pandemic for someone to have access to water or sanitation and decent living conditions – but there has been some work down and there has been improvements.”

“I think the overcrowding is probably one that’s more challenging and more difficult and would probably say that the improvement in that has been slower than in some of the other areas.”