The first in-person Irish Traveller Pride Awards since the beginning of the pandemic featured winners from both Mayo and Galway who were presented with awards for outstanding achievements at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield in Dublin yesterday.
The Traveller Pride Awards are the opening event in this year’s Traveller Pride activities which will take place nationally and locally over the next two weeks generating positivity within the Traveller community and helping to build better relations between the Traveller and settled communities.
The awards highlight and recognise individuals and groups who have made a particular contribution to the community and to wider society and they also serve to challenge many of the racist stereotypes that are too common amongst many members of the settled community.
Mayo born, Rose Marie Maughan was presented with the Intersectionality award.
Rose Marie has been at the forefront of Traveller activism for many years with the Irish Traveller Movement, and she has been a helping hand with so many initiatives within the community over the past 18 years in relation to accommodation and other areas of discrimination experienced by the community. A particular focus of Rosemarie’s work has been in relation to autism.
While Galway natives John Pio Browne and Jason Sherlock secured national titles for Entrepreneurship and Community work respectively.
