Social programmes targeting Travellers were initiated by the Report of the First Government Commission on Itinerancy, published in 1963. The Commission‘s terms of reference were: “to enquire into the problems arising from the presence…of itinerants and…to examine the…problems inherent in their way of life” (CI Report, 1963, p 11).

Travellers have been the ‘objects’ of official policy since then. A key issue in shaping social policy and practice has been the way in which Travellers’ identity is conceptualised. The Report illustrates the dichotomy between official policy and actual practice and illustrates the difficulties that Travellers encounter in trying to integrate into Irish society.