The number of Romani people in Ireland is roughly estimated, as the
Central Statistics Office collects its data based on nationality and not ethnic origin. For this reason a precise demographic profile of the
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
in
Ireland is not available. Some estimates of Romani in Ireland give the population at 1,700 in 2004 rising to between 2,500 and 3,000 in 2005.
[Report in Roma Educational Needs in Ireland]
with the majority originating from Romani populations from
Ukraine and
Hungary.
History
Origin
The Romani people originate from
Northern India,
presumably from the northwestern Indian states
Rajasthan and
Punjab.
The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines.
More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with
Hindi and
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
. It shares many phonetic features with
Marwari, while its grammar is closest to
Bengali.
Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group.
According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of
Northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the
Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of the modern European Roma.
In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the
Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the
Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the
Indian diaspora.
Migration to Ireland
Romani have been present in Ireland since the 18th century. Traditionally, Romani arrived from Britain for seasonal work, either as farm labourers or as coppersmiths
Post-1989
After the
dissolution of Eastern Bloc, thousands of Romani, among others, sought
asylum in Ireland and other Western countries. Their arrival prompted contrasting editorials in the mainstream newspapers. In 1989, Romani started to arrive in Ireland,
predominantly by hiding in container lorries. In the summer of 1998, several hundred Romani arrived hidden in freight containers in
Rosslare Harbour, many of them illegally trafficked.
A second impetus for Romani immigration arose after the admittance of an additional 15 states to the
European Union, with the populations coming to
Dublin and the other major towns and cities.
References
External links
*
*
Access Ireland - Training Roma as cultural mediators''Roma Educational Needs in Ireland - Context and Challenges'' Lesovitch, L., June 2005 City of Dublin
VEC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roma In Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Society of Ireland