'I hope my community never has to lose another Patrick'
Michelle Ward, mother of Patrick McDonagh who was the focus of last week's RTÉ documentary, Patrick: a Young Traveller Lost.
Anyone who watched last Monday’s (November 27) heartbreaking and eye-opening documentary, broadcast for all to see on RTÉ One, called , would have to agree with me that it was a heart-catching and moving piece. Patrick McDonagh, at the age of 12, died by suicide due to bullying and discrimination projected upon him on social media for being his own self, a Traveller. Patrick was a kind, bubbly, smart, talented and a happy child. Hatred of Travellers and the discrimination put onto Travellers has a 12-year-old Traveller's life on their hands.
Being an Irish Traveller, I wasn’t shocked with the level of discrimination that was discussed in the documentary, nor by the statistics shown or the impact discrimination is having on our community. The community has had an epidemic and crisis of suicide on its hands for years.
A report by the Irish Traveller Movement, of which I am part through the Youth Forum, showed that in 2010 suicide was the cause of eleven percent of all Traveller deaths; in the last thirteen years that has only increased. Suicide is six times higher for Traveller women and seven times higher for Traveller men compared to members of the settled community. If you are of the mindset that Travellers bring it on themselves, ask yourself what Patrick brought on himself, what crime did he commit?
Myself, I see accepted discrimination every day against the community. Derogatory terms against the community are used in everyday language and conversation. Severe discrimination, exclusion and bullying is seen day in and day out on social media platforms. If a Traveller does something amazing, still negative, dehumanising and discriminative terms will appear in the comments on social media. In fact, posts about the documentary itself on social media last week drew negative comments beneath them which showcased that even an innocent child losing his life due to exactly this, wasn’t enough for a change to be brought.
Change is needed. We need a national Traveller mental health strategy; organisations such as the Irish Traveller Movement and Pavee Point have been calling on this for years – and it is in the programme of the government – but it has not been put into place. We need accountability and real action, we need national Traveller policy implemented. We need allies to challenge discrimination against Travellers, we need Traveller culture and history embedded in the school curriculum, we need the Yellow Flag Programme, which ensures teachers and students the learning of identity information and belonging, similarity and difference, discrimination and equality and managing intercultural conflicts. Hate crime and speech legislation must also protect Irish Travellers. Traveller racism online needs to be moderated properly, reports addressed and racists held accountable.
People would call me an activist for many things and it was activism that has led me to want to run in the elections for Dáil Éireann in the coming years. To me, we should all come together as one. At the end of the day, we are all human and there is good and bad in every nationality, ethnic group and culture. I hope if you watched the documentary – and if you haven't, that you do – that you see the change that is needed. Patrick had his entire life ahead of him – and a good one at that, where he would have brought a real difference. But Michelle and Pat McDonagh, his parents, have been left without their little boy.
Michelle said in the documentary: “I wanted him for more than 12 year. I wanted him forever.” Michelle would still have her Patrick if we lived in a society that embraced everyone and didn’t exclude and bully due to differences. I hope our community never have to lose another Patrick.
