In Ireland, there are over 29,000 people in the Traveller community, accounting for 0.6% of the Irish population. Here we discuss how genetics might inform our understanding of the Irish Traveller community. Image Irish Travellers are traditionally nomadic and they're generally isolated from the surrounding 'settled' population. Therefore, it's important that we understand the genetics of these populations, so that future health treatments can take any differences into consideration. Previous genetic research has suggested a common Irish origin for the settled Irish population and Traveller populations. However, it's not yet known: How much genetic variation there is between the settled Irish population and Travellers When the genetics began to differ between the populations How the strong family relationships affect the genetics of Travellers and their health Researchers, including our own Professor Jim Wilson, compared the genetic data of 50 Irish Travellers, 143 European Roma, 2,232 settled Irish, 2,039 British and 6,255 European or worldwide people to help further their understanding of the genetics of Irish Traveller populations. Their research found that the genetics of Irish Travellers and settled Irish populations likely began differing from one another before the Great Famine of 1845-1852. They also found that Irish Travellers showed no genetic links with European Roma populations. This helps to inform the social history of Irish populations, which provides a better understanding of the past. The research also found that there were strong family relationships, comparable to those described in previous research in Orkney, led by Professor Wilson. These findings have implications for the understanding of health conditions within Ireland, as Irish Travellers and settled Irish populations may differ in their health experiences due to their genetics. This research was led by Prof. Gianpiero Cavalleri, based at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, and was published in Scientific Reports. If you would like to read the full paper, visit the link below. Genomic Insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers This article was published on 2022-09-22
