25 Facts About Nan Joyce

Nan Joyce was an Irish Travellers' rights activist.

Nan Joyce worked to improve the lives of Travellers in Ireland and Northern Ireland from 1981 until her death in 2018.

Nan Joyce was the first Traveller candidate in an Irish general election, in 1982.

Nan Joyce was the second of nine children and her parents were John O'Donoghue, a horse trainer, and Nan McCann.

Nan Joyce's father was an avid reader who taught his children the history of landmarks and castles they saw on their travels.

Nan Joyce read medical works which enabled him to treat many of the illnesses of his children.

Nan Joyce spoke Cant, and could read and write in Irish and English.

Nan Joyce's father died in a police cell when she was twelve, and her mother was sent to prison for theft committed to support her family.

Nan Joyce took over the role of mother and roamed the country with her siblings.

Nan Joyce endured many hardships including prejudice and intolerance, as well as living by roadsides with no facilities, exposed to severe weather, leading to illness and despair.

Nan Joyce lived for a time in Clondalkin before moving to Tallaght where she began her public life, and later lived in Belfast, where she continued to work for Travellers' rights and well-being.

Nan Joyce read the local papers regularly and was disturbed by how they misrepresented the Traveller community: "I wouldn't wonder for the settled people to be against us because they were hearing nothing but bad about us," she said.

Nan Joyce wrote a Travellers' manifesto describing their needs and delivered it to all the local newspaper offices.

Nan Joyce was part of a group of Travellers and settled people who created the Travellers' Rights Committee and held meetings at her home to involve other Travellers.

Nan Joyce gave talks around the country to schools, colleges, and convents to educate people about Traveller history and heritage.

The first Travellers' rights organisation, called, evolved from the Travellers' Rights Committee in 1983, and Nan Joyce continued her work with them.

Nan Joyce was selected by the committee to run as a candidate in the general election of November 1982, in the Dublin South-West constituency, becoming the first Traveller to compete for a Dail seat.

Nan Joyce made a documentary for the BBC during her election campaign to improve her support.

Nan Joyce petitioned people for votes in the streets of Dublin, wearing a hidden microphone and while being secretly filmed.

Nan Joyce was not elected but she attracted twice as many votes as O'Reilly.

Nan Joyce attended a seminar in Galway in 1983 where she impressed her seminar group which included Nobel Peace Prize-winner, Sean MacBride, and she was selected as chairperson to represent them.

Nan Joyce later moved to Belfast for a number of years.

Nan Joyce continued her school visits in the area to explain how important it was that Traveller children learned about their culture and heritage.

Nan Joyce pioneered the cause of Travellers' rights and heightened awareness of the many hidden problems they faced.

Nan Joyce published Traveller: an autobiography in 1985, which has received scholarly attention, and was the subject of a chapter in a study of influential Irish women, Mna na hEireann: Women who Shaped Ireland, in 2009.