Cork Traveller Visibility Group who say children as young as 11 are taking their own lives in Cork City.
In the past five months alone four people between the ages of 20 and 30 have died by suicide in the community on the northside of the city and advocacy groups say the most worrying aspect is that the community is no longer shocked by suicide.
The 2010 All Ireland Traveller Health Study found that suicide rates in the Traveller community were seven times higher than the national average, despite the fact that they make up only 1% of the country's population.
The Cork Traveller Visibility group says the time for issuing reports and correlating facts on the issues affecting the community is over and action is now urgently needed.
Speaking to RedFM News Breda O'Donoghue of the Traveller Visibility Group believes that the erosion of the traveller culture is behind the high number of fatalities in the community:
"Well, like I said, there's a ripple effect when a suicide happens within the traveller community. It's devastating in any community, but when it's one after the other within a community that's not even getting time to heal or repair the damage that's been done from the first one. Like I said, the services are out there, but they're not designed to meet the needs of the Traveller community. They're not they're not designed to understand the issues that may be going on; the loss of the culture, the loss of the way of life, the loss of being able to identify yourself as an Irish Traveller without fear of racism and discrimination."
